Mariah Carey (born March 27, 1970) is an American recording artist and actress. She made her recording debut in 1990 under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, and became the first recording artist to have her first five singles top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Following her marriage to Mottola in 1993, a series of hit records established her position as Columbia's highest-selling act. According to Billboard magazine, she was the most successful artist of the 1990s in the United States.

Carey was named the best-selling female pop artist of the millennium at the 2000 World Music Awards. She has sold an estimated 200 million albums worldwide and has had the most number-one singles for a solo artist in the United States (eighteen; second artist overall behind The Beatles), where, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, she is the third best-selling female and sixteenth overall recording artist. In addition to her commercial accomplishments, Carey has earned five Grammy Awards, has spent the most weeks at #1 longer than any other recording artist and is well-known for her large vocal range, power, melismatic style, and use of the whistle register.