Greatest Hits is the eleventh album by Mariah Carey, which was released in the United States on December 4, 2001 by Columbia Records. It is a greatest hits compilation album: CD 1 is primarily a collection of Carey's hits from 1990 to 1995, while CD 2 is primarily a collection of hits from 1996 to 2000.
Album History[]
Mariah had previously released the compilation album #1's (1998), but the release of her Greatest Hits album was a contractual agreement beyond her control, since she had left Columbia Records and had moved on to Virgin Records. The album had little creative input from Carey and there are no personal messages within its liner notes, unlike #1's. All tracks from the previous album, with the exception of "Whenever You Call" with Brian McKnight, and the #1's non-U.S. bonus track "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" are included on Greatest Hits. The tracks that were not included on #1's are:
- the U.S. top five hits "Can't Let Go" (1991), "Make It Happen" (1992) and "Without You" (1994), and the top twenty hit "Anytime You Need a Friend" (1994)
- the radio airplay-only tracks "Forever" (1996), "Underneath the Stars" (1996), and "Butterfly" (1997);
- "Heartbreaker" (1999) and "Thank God I Found You" (2000), the two singles from Carey's Rainbow album that went to number 1 following the release of #1's, as well as "Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)" (2000), another track from Rainbow
- "Endless Love" (1994), a top five duet with Luther Vandross which had not been previously included on any Carey album;
- the So So Def Remix of "All I Want for Christmas Is You" (2000) featuring Bow Wow Polow da don which had previously only been on the Japanese re-release of the single in 2000.
Most non-U.S. versions of Greatest Hits retain the track listing as listed below with the addition of "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" (2000), a duet with Westlife. The version contains "[[Against All Odds", "Open Arms" (1996), the non-single album track "Music Box" from the album Music Box (1993), and the Merry Christmas album version of "All I Want for Christmas Is You"; it is also the only album to include the "Never Too Far" (2001) single. Unlike most non-U.S. versions of the Greatest Hits album, the "So So Def" remix of "All I Want for Christmas Is You" was not included on the original UK edition but on the album's 2005 re-release.
Carey did not have much power over the creation of the album, but was invited by her ex-husband Tommy Mottola to discuss what tracks were to be included. As Carey and Mottola had their marriage end on bad terms, the dinner concerning the album was a tense one, with Carey not getting a lot of what she wanted on the album. It received almost no promotion, and as it was released shortly after Carey's commercially unsuccessful film Glitter and its accompanying soundtrack album Glitter, its existence is often not known by the general public. It debuted at number fifty-two on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart with 54,483 copies sold in its first week, remained on the chart for eleven weeks and has been certified platinum album|platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Greatest Hits was a failure on the charts compared to Carey's previous albums, and she does not acknowledge its existence publicly. However, back catalog sales of the album began to sell at a moderate pace following the success of Carey's fourteenth album, The Emancipation of Mimi (2005). It was then re-released in the UK on October 10, 2005, this time with the inclusion of the "So So Def" remix of "All I Want for Christmas Is You". It subsequently entered the top ten of the UK Albums Chart for the first time (the re-release debuted at number nine), eventually peaking at number seven in the re-release's second week of sales.
Track listing[]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Vision of Love" | Mariah Carey, Ben Margulies | Rhett Lawrence, Narada Michael Walden | 3:30 |
| 2. | "Love Takes Time" | Carey, Margulies | Walter Afanasieff | 3:49 |
| 3. | "Someday" | Carey, Margulies | Ric Wake | 4:08 |
| 4. | "I Don't Wanna Cry" | Carey, Walden | Walden | 4:48 |
| 5. | "Emotions" | Carey, David Cole, Robert Clivillés | Carey, Cole, Clivillés | 4:08 |
| 6. | "Can't Let Go" | Carey, Afanasieff | Carey, Afanasieff | 4:27 |
| 7. | "Make It Happen" | Carey, Cole, Clivillés | Carey, Cole, Clivillés | 5:07 |
| 8. | "I'll Be There" (featuring Trey Lorenz) | Hal Davis, Berry Gordy, Willie Hutch, Bob West | 4:42 | |
| 9. | "Dreamlover" | Carey, Dave Hall | Carey, Hall, Afanasieff | 3:53 |
| 10. | "Hero" | Carey, Afanasieff | Carey, Afanasieff | 4:19 |
| 11. | "Without You" | William Peter Ham, Tom Evans | Carey, Afanasieff | 3:36 |
| 12. | "Anytime You Need a Friend" | Carey, Afanasieff | Carey, Afanasieff | 4:26 |
| 13. | "Endless Love" (with Luther Vandross) | Lionel Richie | Afanasieff | 4:21 |
| 14. | "Fantasy" | Carey, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, Hall, Adrian Belew, Steven Stanley | Carey, Hall | 4:03 |
| Disc 1 - Japan Only Bonus Tracks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
| 15. | "Music Box" | Carey, Afanasieff | Carey, Afanasieff | 4:56 |
| 16. | "All I Want for Christmas Is You" | Carey, Afanasieff | Carey, Afanasieff | 4:01 |
| 17. | "Open Arms" | Steve Perry, Jonathan Cain | Carey, Afanasieff | 3:30 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "One Sweet Day" (with Boyz II Men) | Carey, Michael McCary, Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris, Shawn Stockman, Afanasieff | Carey, Afanasieff | 4:42 |
| 2. | "Always Be My Baby" | Carey, Jermaine Dupri, Manuel Seal | Carey, Dupri, Seal | 4:20 |
| 3. | "Forever" | Carey, Afanasieff | Carey, Afanasieff | 4:01 |
| 4. | "Underneath the Stars" | Carey, Afanasieff | Carey, Afanasieff | 3:33 |
| 5. | "Honey" | Carey, Sean Combs, Kamaal Fareed, Steven Jordan, Stephen Hague, Bobby Robinson, Ronald Larkins, Larry Price, Malcolm McLaren | Carey, Puffy, The Ummah, Stevie J | 5:01 |
| 6. | "Butterfly" | Carey, Afanasieff | Carey, Afanasieff | 4:35 |
| 7. | "My All" | Carey, Afanasieff | Carey, Afanasieff | 3:52 |
| 8. | "Sweetheart" (featuring JD) | Rainy Davis, Peter Kessler | Carey, Dupri | 4:23 |
| 9. | "When You Believe" (with Whitney Houston) | Stephen Schwartz, Babyface | Babyface | 4:38 |
| 10. | "I Still Believe" | Antonina Armato, Giuseppe Cantarelli | Carey, Stevie J, Mike Mason | 3:56 |
| 11. | "Heartbreaker" (featuring Jay-Z) | Carey, Shawn Carter, Shirley Elliston, Lincoln Chase, Walden, Jeffrey Cohen | Carey, DJ Clue?, Duro | 4:46 |
| 12. | "Thank God I Found You" (featuring Joe & 98º) | Carey, James Harris III, Terry Lewis | Carey, Jam, Lewis | 4:17 |
| 13. | "Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)" | Carey, Diane Warren | Carey, Jam, Lewis | 4:32 |
| Disc 2 - US First Run Bonus Track | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
| 14. | "All I Want for Christmas Is You" (featuring Jermaine Dupri & Lil' Bow Wow) (So So Def Remix) | Carey, Afanasieff, Arthur Baker, John Robie, Afrika Bambaataa, John Miller, Robert Allen, Ellis Williams, Ralf Hütter, Emil Schultz | Carey, Afanasieff, Dupri (remixer) | 3:43 |
| Disc 2 - International Bonus Tracks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
| 14. | "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" (featuring Westlife) | Phil Collins | Carey, Steve Mac | 3:31 |
| 15. | "All I Want for Christmas Is You" (featuring Jermaine Dupri & Lil' Bow Wow) (So So Def Remix) | Carey, Afanasieff, Baker, Robie, Afrika Bambaataa, Miller, Allen, Williams, Hütter, Schultz | Carey, Afanasieff, Dupri (remixer) | 3:43 |
| Disc 2 - Japan Only Bonus Track | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
| 16. | "Never Too Far / Hero" | Carey, Harris, Lewis, Afanasieff | Carey, Jam, Lewis | 4:46 |
Charts[]
| Chart (2001) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 52 |
| U.S. R&B/Hip-Hop Albums | 36 |
| Chart (2005) | Peak position |
| UK Albums Chart | 7 |
| Chart (2006) | Peak position |
| Australian Albums Chart | 47 |