Soooo I re-listened to Mariah Carey’s entire discography (because whyyyy notttt?!), and I can definitively say that these four are my favorite albums (in order):

FAVE STUDIO ALBUMS

1. Butterfly (1997)
2. Daydream (1995)
3. The Emancipation of Mimi (2005)
4. E=MC2 (2008)

Butterfly has always been my fave, but listening to it again from start to finish just cemented it. Butterfly is an experience, especially the sultry, velvety R&B succession of 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐨𝐟 , 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲, 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧, and 𝐁𝐚𝐛𝐲𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥! Save for that one reprise track, that album has no fillers!

And it does sound like this is the type of music she was born and had been really dying to create, not the power ballads that made her Mariah.

#5 is a toss between 𝐂𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (2018) and, wait for it… 𝐆𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 (2001).

FAVE SINGLES

1. Always Be My Baby (Daydream)
2. We Belong Together (Emancipation)
3. Breakdown (Butterfly)
4. With You (Caution)
5. Fantasy (Daydream)
6. One Sweet Day (Daydream)
7. Angels Cry (Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel)

FAVE ALBUM TRACKS

1. Fourth of July (Butterfly)
2. Whenever You Call (Butterfly)
3. Vanishing (Mariah Carey)
4. Melt Away (Daydream)
5. For the Record (E=MC2)
6. Migrate (E=MC2)
7. Bliss (Rainbow)