You may have heard about the famous Mariah Carey and her versatile career. She is a songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, and also actress, and singer.
Also known as “The Songbird Supreme”, her albums have sold over 200 million copies. She comes on the list of all-time 15 best-selling musical artists. Among the best-selling female artists ever, she is ranked second just after Madonna.
The “Queen of Christmas” has more ranked songs than any other female writer or producer in the US chart history. She is also the winner of many Grammys, Billboard and American Music Awards.
After seeing her achievements and a vastly successful career, you must be wondering what Mariah Carey’s net worth is. On Wikipedia, it is said to be between $300-520 million, but we can confirm that Mariah Carey’s net worth is approximately around $320 million.
Early years and private life:
Born on 27th March 1970, she has African, Afro-Venezuelan, and Irish ancestors. Her grandfather gave her the surname “Carey”.
She was into arts and music, and when she was in high school in Greenlawn, New York, she began creating her songs. She met Gavin Christopher and Ben Margulies there, and they began collaborating on full-length songs with music and words. After graduation, she continued to collaborate with them and produced a full-length demo.
The demo came to pop singer Brenda K. Starr eventually, which she passed across the town. This helped Mariah to be a part of various industry galas. In December 1988, her demo tape made its way to Tommy Mottola at a record executives’ gala of CBS. After listening to the first two songs, the head of Columbia Records was immediately convinced that Mariah Carey would become a star.
He returned to the gala in search of her, but she was gone. Tommy searched for two weeks for Mariah, and when he tracked her down, he instantly signed her to a record deal and gathered a team for her debut.
Mariah married Tommy Motalla in 1993. In 1998, they divorced. From 2008 to 2016, she was Nick Cannon’s wife. They have two sons together, twin boys born in April 2011. She was engaged to Australian billionaire James Packer for a short time in 2016 and dated singer Luis Miguel from 1998 to 2001.
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Success:
On June 12, 1990, her first album came out, which she named after her name. Columbia allegedly spent $1 million promoting the album. Sales didn’t look promising initially, but the album got a 9X platinum certification, and 15 million copies were sold worldwide. When it made its debut, it was ranked first on the Billboard charts. She was also nominated for two Grammys.
Her second album, “Emotions,” was a huge success, but it was her next album that catapulted her career to new heights. “Music Box” remained on the Billboard chart for 128 weeks and eventually sold an astounding 28 million copies worldwide.
Her success was far from fleeting. “Merry Christmas” was a huge success selling nearly 15 million copies. Her subsequent three albums sold twenty, ten, and eight million copies.
Her song “All I Want for Christmas is You” became one of the most profit-making songs of all time, with more than 16 million copies sold. It has been featured in numerous Christmas movies and is a massive hit on streaming services like Spotify and Pandora around the holidays. To date, gross royalties from the song have totalled more than $60 million.
Virgin Contract:
Mariah departed Columbia Records in April 2001 and signed a $100 million, five-album deal with Virgin Music, which was a record at the time. After inflation, that’s the equivalent of $150 million. No contract this large had ever been signed by any other music artist.
On August 18, 2001, “Glitter” was released. It was the first album she ever did with Virgin. The album was a soundtrack for the same-named film, a semi-autobiographical portrayal of a fictional version of her.
Critics and viewers alike condemned the record and film, which was released on September 21, 2001, ten days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. She was hospitalized for severe tiredness even before that film’s premiere. She had a physical and emotional breakdown, according to reports.
The album eventually sold 3 million copies. For any other artist, that would have been acceptable. Unfortunately for Mariah and Virgin’s newly-minted $100 million contracts, it was a nightmare.
Virgin paid Mariah $28 million to break the deal early because they were desperate to get rid of her. She was formerly born approximately $50 million to produce a single album for the label.
Return to Success:
Mariah got a $24 million deal with Island Records after being released from Virgin. Her Island albums did relatively well, with “The Emancipation of Mimi,” released in 2005, selling 10 million copies worldwide.
Mariah recorded one album with Def Jam before signing with Epic Records in 2015, where she is still signed today.
She also signed a contract of $30 million to do a two-year residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in 2015. With $27 million in total earnings, she was among the top paid women in music that year.
Conclusion:
As mentioned before, Mariah Carey’s net worth is not $520 million, despite what numerous websites like Wikipedia claim. From Mariah’s legal records of her 2015 divorce procedures, it was found that she had a net worth of $150 million when she married Nick in the year 2008.
Nick’s net worth in 2008 was less than $500,000 at that time. Mariah made a total of $6.3 million in 2014, according to the records, while Nick made $2.7 million. Nick was given a 2012 Ferrari and compelled to pay $5,000 to a trust every month. This was all a part of the undisclosed settlement.
To conclude, we will discuss what Mariah Carey’s net worth currently is. Mariah Carey’s net worth is $320 million. Throughout her successful career, she has earned more money than the majority of the other music artists through her work in the industry.
