Music Box (album)

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Music Box
Studio album by Mariah Carey
Released	August 31, 1993 (North America)
Recorded	1992-1993
Genre	Pop / R&B
Length	47:24
Label	Columbia Records CK-53205
Producer(s)	Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff, David Cole, Robert Clivillés, Babyface
Professional reviews
Bill Lamb, about.com link Ron Wynn, All Music Guide link
Mariah Carey chronology
MTV Unplugged (1992)	Music Box (1993)	Merry Christmas (1994)

Music Box is the fourth album and third studio album by pop and R&B singer Mariah Carey. It was released by Columbia Records on August 31, 1993 (see 1993 in music) in North America. The album comprises ballads primarily co-written by Carey and Walter Afanasieff — with whom she had previously worked on Emotions (1991) — and a few urban dance tracks. Other collaborators on Music Box include Babyface and Clivilles & Cole.

Lead single "Dreamlover" became Carey's most successful single at the time of its release when it topped the U.S. and Canadian singles charts, and "Without You" became her first to reach number one in the UK and several other countries across Europe. Carey was nominated for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" for "Dreamlover" at the 1994 Grammy Awards; she received the same nomination for "Hero" at the 1995 Grammy Awards.

Contents 1 Chart performance 2 Track listing 3 Charts, sales and certification 4 Notes

[edit] Chart performance

Music Box entered the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart at number two and ascended to number one fifteen weeks after its release, staying at the top for eight non-consecutive weeks. It remained in the top twenty for forty weeks and on the Billboard 200 for 128 weeks (more than two years), re-entering the chart three times. The album also reached number one on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and as of 2005 it had sold more than 7.16 million copies in the U.S. according to Nielsen SoundScan,^[1] with an additional 0.74 million sold at BMG Music Clubs.^[2] Music Box was a large seller elsewhere because of its singles, and it topped the charts in Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Carey's previous albums had performed well in Canada, but despite the success of "Dreamlover" there, Music Box peaked at number five. The album is Carey's most successful album to date worldwide, and by 2005 it had sold approximately 30 million copies worldwide.^[3]

Music Box yielded Carey's seventh and eighth U.S. number-one singles, "Dreamlover" and "Hero". "Dreamlover" (based around a sample of "Blind Alley" by The Emotions) spent eight weeks at number one and has become one of Carey's most popular songs to date; it continued the trend of Carey's debut singles from each studio album topping the U.S. Hot 100 (which lasted until the turn of the decade). "Hero" spent four weeks at number one, and it has arguably become one of Carey's best known works. The album's third and fourth singles, "Without You" (a cover of the Badfinger song made famous by Harry Nilsson in 1972) and "Anytime You Need a Friend", respectively, were slightly less successful in the U.S. The former did not reach number one, but it became Carey's first single to top the UK chart and was very successful worldwide, while "Anytime You Need a Friend" failed to make the U.S. top ten (Carey's first single to do so). All four singles were top ten Adult Contemporary hits, though none of them attained the No. 1 AC spot, making it Carey's first album without a No. 1 AC hit.

[edit] Track listing

1. "Dreamlover" (Mariah Carey, Dave Hall) – 3:53
2. "Hero" (Carey, Afanasieff) – 4:19
3. "Anytime You Need a Friend" (Carey, Afanasieff) – 4:25
4. "Music Box" (Carey, Afanasieff) – 4:57
5. "Now That I Know" (Carey, Robert Clivillés, David Cole) – 4:19
6. "Never Forget You" (Carey, Babyface, Daryl Simmons) – 3:46
7. "Without You" (Peter Ham, Tom Evans) – 3:36
8. "Just to Hold You Once Again" (Carey, Afanasieff) – 4:00
9. "I've Been Thinking about You" (Carey, Clivillés, Cole) – 4:48
10. "All I've Ever Wanted" (Carey, Afanasieff) – 3:51

Non-U.S. editions

11. "Everything Fades Away" (Carey, Afanasieff) – 5:25 (Europe, Australia and Asia)

12. "Do You Think of Me" (Carey, Afanasieff) – 4:45 (Canada)

13. "Héroe" (Carey, Afanasieff) – 4:19 (Latin America and Spain)

[edit] Charts, sales and certification

Country	Chart	Peak position	Certification	Sales
Worldwide				30,000,000[4]
USA	Billboard 200	1(8)	Diamond	10,000,000
Europe	IFPI		7xPlatinum	7,000,000
Japan	RIAJ	2	11xPlatinum	2,300,000
France	IFOP	1(4)	Diamond	1,500,000[5]
Germany	IFPI Germany	1(11)	2xPlatinum (the standard of 1990s)	1,000,000[6]
Australia	ARIA Australia	1(18)	13xPlatinum	910,000
Canada	CRIA	5	7xPlatinum	700,000
Netherlands	NVPI	1(12)	6xPlatinum	600,000
Italy	FIMI	2	5xPlatinum	500,000
Spain	PROMUSICAE	1	5xPlatinum	500,000
Switzerland	IFPI Switzerland		4xPlatinum	200,000[7]
Brazil	ABPD		Gold	100,000
Hong Kong	IFPI Hong Kong		5xPlatinum	100,000
Mexico	Amprofon		Gold	100,000
New Zealand	RIANZ	2	5xPlatinum	90,000
Austria	IFPI Austria	1(11)	2xPlatinum	80,000
Norway	IFPI Norway	2	Platinum	80,000

Chart (1993)	Peak position
Dutch Albums Chart	1 (12 weeks)
UK Albums Chart	1 (6 weeks)
Swiss Albums Chart	1 (1 week)
Norwegian Albums Chart	3
Swedish Albums Chart	3
Hungarian Albums Chart	4

[edit] Notes

1. ^ http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22858&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=1775 UKmix.org U.S. Nielsen SoundScan sales from 1991 to December 2005]
2. ^ U.S. BMG Music Club and Columbia House sales as of February 2005
3. ^ http://www.mariahcarey.com/news/bio.php Mariahcarey.com
4. ^ http://www.mariahcarey.com/news/bio.php Mariahcarey.com
5. ^ http://www.infodisc.fr/CDCertif_Album.php?debut=0 Infodisc.fr
6. ^ http://www.ifpi.de/ Ifpi.de
7. ^ http://swisscharts.com/awards.asp?year=2006 Swisscharts.com