Music Box (album)

Infobox Album
Name = Music Box
Type = studio
Artist = Mariah Carey


Released = August 17, 1993 (U.K.)
August 31, 1993 (U.S., Canada)
Recorded = 1993
Genre = Pop, R&B
Length = 42:00 (American Edition) , 47:25 (International Edition) , 46:19 (Latin American Edition)
Label = Columbia
CK-53205
Producer = Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff, David Cole, Robert Clivillés, Babyface
Reviews = *"about.com" Rating|3.5|5 [http://top40.about.com/od/reviews/gr/mcmbox.htm link]
*Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:i0j97i78g78r link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|3|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/mariahcarey/albums/album/240200/review/5943845/music_box link]
Last album = "MTV Unplugged"
(1992)
This album = "Music Box"
(1993)
Next album = "Merry Christmas"
(1994)
Misc = Singles
Name = Music Box
Type = studio
single 1 = Dreamlover
single 1 date = July 27, 1993
single 2 = Hero
single 2 date = October 19, 1993
single 3 = Without You/Never Forget You
single 3 date = January 24, 1994
single 4 = Anytime You Need a Friend
single 4 date = May 27, 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 Robert Clivillés/David Cole (also known as Clivillés & Cole). The album has two b-sides: "Do You Think Of Me" and "Everything Fades Away". They were left off the main tracklisting because they were seen as too suggestive.

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 Badfinger's "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 but she lost to Whitney Houston; she received the same nomination for "Hero" at the 1995 Grammy Awards. As of 2008, Music Box has sold more than 30 Million copies worldwide.

Chart performance

"Music Box" entered the U.S. "Billboard 200" at #2 and ascended to #1 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, and the most for a Mariah Carey album), 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 9.16 million copies in the U.S. according to Nielsen SoundScan,with an additional 0.74 million sold at BMG Music Clubs. [ [http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:2imhVBtlmSEJ:lovepetcn.w5.zhaomu.com/bbs/read.php%3Ftid=1861 U.S. BMG Music Club and Columbia House sales as of February 2005] ] "Music Box" was the second-best selling album in the United States in 1994, only behind Ace of Base's "The Sign".

"Music Box" was a big success in Canada but only managed a peaked position of number five despite the success of "Dreamlover". The album was a large seller elsewhere because of its singles, and it topped the charts in Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

It is the 30th most successful album ever and the tenth most successful female album of all time according to United World Chart's All Time Chart [ [http://www.mediatraffic.de/alltime-album-chart.htm Global Track Chart ] ] .

"Music Box" yielded Carey's seventh and eighth U.S. #1 singles, "Dreamlover" and "Hero". "Dreamlover" (based around a sample of "Blind Alley" by The Emotions) spent eight weeks at #1 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 #1 and became her first Christmas #1 single. 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, was very successful around the world and became the biggest worldwide hit in Mariah's career until We Belong Together, while "Anytime You Need a Friend" failed to make the U.S. top ten (Carey's first single to do so). Media Traffic ranked Without You as the most successful single of 1994. All four singles were top ten Adult Contemporary hits, though none of them attained the #1 Adult Contemporary spot, making it Carey's first album without a #1 Adult Contemporary hit.

Track listing

# "Dreamlover" (Carey, Dave Hall) - 3:54
# "Hero" (Carey, Walter Afanasieff) - 4:20
# "Anytime You Need A Friend" (Carey, Afanasieff) - 4:27
# "Music Box" (Carey, Afanasieff) - 4:58
# "Now That I Know" (Carey, Clivillés, Cole) - 4:19
# "Never Forget You" (Carey, Babyface, Daryl Simmons) - 3:46
# "Without You" (Peter Ham, Tom Evans) - 3:37
# "Just To Hold You Once Again" (Carey, Afanasieff) - 3:59
# "I've Been Thinking About You" (Carey, Clivillés, Cole) - 4:48
# "All I've Ever Wanted" (Carey, Afanasieff) - 3:52

International editions
11. "Everything Fades Away" (Carey, Afanasieff) - 5:25

Latin American edition
11. "Héroe" (Hero in Spanish) (Carey, Afanasieff) - 4:19

Charts

References

Notes

succession box
before = "Doggystyle" by Snoop Doggy Dogg
title = "Billboard" 200 number-one album
years = December 25 1993 - January 14 1994
January 22 - February 11 1994
March 5 - March 18 1994
after = "Jar of Flies" by Alice in Chainssuccession box
before = "Promises and Lies" by UB40
"The Cross of Changes" by Enigma
"Vauxhall and I" by Morrissey
title = UK number one album
years = September 11, 1993 – September 17, 1993
February 26, 1994 – March 25, 1994
April 2, 1994 – April 8, 1994
after = "" by Meat Loaf
"Vauxhall and I" by Morrissey
"The Division Bell" by Pink Floydsuccession box
before = "The One Thing" by Michael Bolton
title = Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album
years = March 27 - April 2 1994
April 10 - April 16 1994
May 8 - June 25 1994
July 3 - July 30 1994
August 7 - September 3 1994
September 18 - September 24 1994
after = "Far Beyond Driven" by Pantera