Portal:R&B and Soul Music/Selected article/1

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"Fantasy" is a song co-written and co-produced by American singer Mariah Carey and Dave Hall, and recorded for Carey's sixth album Daydream (1995). It is built around a sample of the Tom Tom Club's single "Genius of Love" (1982), which was written by Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, Steven Stanley and Adrian Belew. It was released as the album's first single in 1995 (see 1995 in music), and is one of Carey's most popular songs. The urban remix of "Fantasy" features Ol' Dirty Bastard. The album version of the song was nominated for the 1996 Grammy Award for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance", losing to "No More 'I Love Yous'" by Annie Lennox.

"Fantasy" became one of the biggest hits of Carey's career and was her ninth number-one single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was the first single by a female artist to debut at number one in the U.S., and only the second single to do so after "You Are Not Alone" by Michael Jackson. It spent eight weeks at the top of the chart, from September 24 to November 18, 1995, Carey's longest stay at the time alongside "Dreamlover" (1993). It replaced " Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio, and was replaced by Whitney Houston's "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)". "Fantasy" spent twenty-three weeks in the top forty and was successful on other Billboard formats, including the R&B and dance charts. Its strong sales led it to be certified double platinum by the RIAA, Carey's first single to do so. It was ranked seventh on the Hot 100 year-end charts for 1995 and forty-ninth on the 1996 year-end charts.