Mariah's Capital Radio Interview in 2003:
Q: You've also just got your 100th certification. Just explain what that means?
A: When your record goes gold, which is a different number in each country, you get a certification - a gold certification. When it goes platinum, you get another certification, and so on and so forth. So,
it means I've just got my 100th with 'Charmbracelet'. The RIAA, the organisation monitors, gave me this blue diamond award, which I think is the first year they have given it out, and we had a fabulous party in LA, which was really fun. I was very grateful because 'Charm Bracelet' the album is very personal to me, and if it's not my best album, it's definitely in the top two because it's one of the most honest records I've ever made. That and 'Butterfly' epitomise who I am as an artist.
Music Box was certified 5x platinum by IFPI Europe but eventually shipped around 8 million copies in that continent.
I made a mistake in the chart records and achievements section.
• "All I Want for Christmas Is You" is one of the two non-Asian singles being certified
Platinum Million by RIAJ.
I meant Million, of course.
And regarding singles sales, I feel like "All I Want for Christmas Is You" numbers in the OP are clearly underestimated. According to the
News Straits Times newspaper, it has sold 10 million copies.
According to
Yahoo!, "We Belong Together" has sold 5 million copies worldwide. The estimations I was using are 2 million. This data from Yahoo! confuses me.
I guess the single did very well in Asia.
This would put Mariah's singles sales in the 63-65 million range.