Mariah Carey is the self-titled debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It was released on June 12, 1990 by Columbia Records. The album contains a range of contemporary genres, and the songs are a mix of slow ballads and dance tracks. Originally, Carey wrote four songs with Ben Margulies, which solely comprised her demo tape. While altered and partially re-sung after being signed to Columbia, all four songs made the final cut for the album. Aside from Margulies, Carey worked with a range of professional writers and producers, all of whom were hired by Columbia CEO, Tommy Mottola. Mariah Carey featured production and writing from Rhett Lawrence, Ric Wake and Narada Michael Walden, all of whom were top record producers at the time. Together with Carey, they conceived the album and reconstructed her original demo tape.

Upon release, the album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who complemented Carey's voice and technique, as well as the album's content. It became a commercial success as well. While initial sales were slow, the album topped the Billboard 200 after Carey's exposure at the Grammy Awards, staying atop the chart for eleven consecutive weeks. Mariah Carey was certified nine-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of over nine million copies in the United States. The album experienced similar success in Canada, where it topped the charts and was certified seven-times platinum. Mariah Carey faired well in other worldwide territories, reaching the top ten in Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and United Kingdom. Worldwide, the album has sold over 15 million copies.

Five singles were released from the album, four of which became number-one hits on the Hot 100. "Vision of Love" was chosen as the album's lead single, topping the charts in the Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. The song was critically lauded, and was regarded as one of the strongest debut singles by a female singer. It is credited with inspiring the use of Melisma throughout the 90s, as well as many other singers. The album's second single, "Love Takes Time" was also well-received and peaked the charts in Canada and the US. With the following two singles, "Someday" and "I Don't Wanna Cry" reaching number one in the US, Carey became the first artist since The Jackson 5 to have their first four singles top the charts in the United States.

In 1988, an 18-year-old Carey moved out of her mother's house in Long Island, and into a small apartment in Manhattan. She had a demo tape consisting of four songs, which she had written during her high school years with Ben Margulies. As 1988 unfolded, Carey, still without a record deal, struggled to draw the attention of record executives in New York. While working several jobs, she continued writing and producing music with Margulies, making changes and additions to the demo.After months of difficulty, Carey met with Puerto Rican and American singer Brenda K. Starr, and soon began singing back-up for her. Eventually, Starr began hearing what she described as "glimpses" of Carey's voice throughout sessions, and noticed her "gifted voice". She realized Carey was capable of achieving success, but only needed help to break through into mainstream music.

One night, Starr took Carey to a record industry gala, attempting to convince a record label executive to listen her demo. Jerry L. Greenberg, president of Atlantic Records took notice of her. As Carey handed him the record, Tommy Mottola quickly grabbed the tape, insisting that he would deal with "the project." As Mottola got into his limousine later that evening, he played Carey's demo and quickly realized the talent that he had just discovered. He quickly returned to the event, but a discouraged Carey had already left.

After a week of tracking her down through Starr's management, Mottola got in touch with Carey and brought her over to Columbia Records. After meeting with Carey and her mother Patricia for the first time, Mottola said, "When I heard and saw Mariah, there was absolutely no doubt that she was in every way destined for super-stardom." After a few brief meetings, Carey was signed to Columbia in December 1988.

Mottola had assumed the top position at Sony, the parent label of Columbia, and began taking the company through various stages of change. One he felt was very important for the label's success was to discover a young and very talented female vocalist, to rival Whitney Houston from Arista Records, or a pop star to match Madonnna, who was signed to Sire Records at the time. He felt that Carey represented both. Mottola's confidence in Carey led him to hire a range of talented and well-known musicians and songwriters to assist with Carey's demo, as well as to create new material. Among them were Ric Wake, Narada Michael Walden and Rhett Lawrence.

Carey and Ben Margulies began writing prior to Carey's signing, and had composed over fourteen songs; seven of which earned a place on the album. Originally, Carey and Margulies planned to produce the entire album as well, an idea her label did not permit. On the album, Carey worked with a range of producers and writers, including from Ben Margulies, Rhett Lawrence, Narada Michael Walden, Ric Wake and Walter Afanasieff; the latter would continue working extensively working with Carey on future projects.

As production for the album began, Carey worked with Walden in New York, where they produced "I Don't Wanna Cry". While he described Carey as "very shy," he noted how professional she was for someone her age. Additionally, Carey wrote "There's Got to Be a Way" during her first recording session with Wake. During the session, they wrote four songs, but they only produced the latter song for the album. After flying to New York and working with Carey, Walden was astonished by her voice. Together, they collaborated on transforming many of the demo's songs into more commercial recordings, which took place in Tarpan Studios in San Rafael, California.

For her work with Lawrence, Carey traveled to New York once again. In the studio, she presented him with the demo of "Vision of Love" which she had written with Margulies years prior. Lawrence saw "potential" in the song, but he did not think much of it in its early stages. He described the song's sound as having a "fifties sort of shuffle". According to Lawrence, Carey needed a more contemporary sound, so they met in the studio alongside Margulies and producer Chris Toland. They added a new arrangement to the original chord progression, while Carey changed the song's melody and key. Afterwards, Margulies added few drum notes to the arrangement, including additional guitar and bass notes.

When Carey worked with Walden on "I Don't Wanna Cry", they worked on several other songs. Together, they decided to "slow down the tempo" and create a "crying type of ballad," one which according to him, featured a direct inspiration from gospel genres. After they completed the song, Lawrence noted how much of a perfectionist Carey was. He said that after finishing the song, she returned to the studio the following week, all in order to correct "one line" that troubled her. As one of the four original songs she gave to Mottola, "Someday" became Wake's favorite from the start, "I loved that song right from the beginning...Then Mariah called me one day and said 'I'd love to do it if you want to do it.' It was great, I'm glad she called me." During its recording, Carey revealed how the song came into existence. She had been working on the demo with Margulies in his studio. As he began playing different notes on the electric keyboard, Carey directed him on the chord changes, while providing the chorus, lyrics and melody. Carey spoke of an incident she experienced while in the studio recording "All in Your Mind". As she was singing in her upper registers, her voice "did this kind of flip". While she thought to remove it from the song's recording, Wake and Walden were very impressed by the vocal flips, claiming that it would fit in perfectly.

The album received generally positive reviews from music critics. Bill Lamb from About.com commended Carey's five-octave vocal range, calling it "a new treat to pop music." Additionally, he outed "Vision of Love" as one of Carey's best songs," and aside from what he described as "a few weak songs" he felt Mariah Carey was "a powerful debut album." Finishing his review for the album, Lamb wrote "It is simply one of the most stunning debut releases ever by a pop recording artist." Ashley S. Battel from Allmusic called the album "extremely impressive" and described the songs as "smooth-sounding ballads and uplifting dance/R&B cuts." Battel concluded her review with "With this collection of songs acting as a springboard for future successes, Carey establishes a strong standard of comparison for other breakthrough artists of this genre." Many critics expressed how Mariah Carey was one of the most impressive debuts of the year, praising its songs, lyrics and Carey's voice and songwriting.

Billboard gave the album a very positive review calling it an "impressive debut," and writing "Carey convincingly seizes many opportunities to display her incredible vocal range on such memorable tracks as the popular 'Vision of Love.'" Rolling Stone gave the album praise writing "Carey debuted with an album of uplifting dance pop and R&B ballads, each song's composition co-credited to Carey and each providing an opportunity to unleash her wide vocal range." American critic Robert Christgau gave the album a mixed review, writing, "She gets too political in her brave, young, idealistic attack on 'war, destitution and sorrow': 'Couldn't we accept each other/Can't we make ourselves aware.' Elsewhere she sticks to what she doesn't know—love.' While reviewing the album positively, Bill Lamb expressed how some of the albums tracks were noticeably weak, writing "a few weak songs pull down the overall album." Lamb's other concern was the albums "somewhat formulaic mix of uptempo tracks and ballads," which he felt caused the album to lose some of its authenticity.

Mariah Carey was nominated for the 1991 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, while "Vision of Love" received nominations in the categories of Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Carey won for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and also received the award for Best New Artist.

Mariah Carey entered the US Billboard 200 at number 80, and reached the top 20 in its fourth week. The album topped the chart in its 43rd week, due to Carey's exposure at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards, and stayed there for 11 consecutive weeks; to date, it is the longest stay at number one in Carey's career. It remained in the top 20 for 65 weeks and on the Billboard 200 for 113 weeks. Mariah Carey was certified nine-times platinum by the RIAA on December 15, 1999. The album has sold 4,854,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which began counting sales after March 1, 1991. It became the best-selling album of 1991 in the United States.

In Canada, the album peaked at number one on the Canadian RPM Singles Chart during the week of April 20, 1991. To date, Mariah Carey is certified seven-times platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), denoting shipments of over 700,000 copies. The album peaked at number six in Australia, where it went double-platinum and finished sixth on the ARIA Charts end of 1991 top 50 albums. During the week of September 15, 1990, Mariah Carey entered the UK Albums Chart at its peak of number six. After spending 40 weeks fluctuating in the chart, the album was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), denoting shipments of over 300,000 copies. As of 2008, the album has sold over 15 million copies worldwide.

"Vision of Love" was the first single released from the album and became one of the most popular and critically praised songs of Carey's career. Additionally, it is credited with bringing the use of melisma to the 1990s and inspiring various future talents. "Vision of Love" was nominated for three 1991 Grammy Awards: Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (which it won), Record of the Year and Song of the Year. The song received the Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Single, Female and a Songwriter Award at the BMI Pop Awards. In the United States, it peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, during the week of August 2, 1990, staying atop the chart for four consecutive weeks.

"Vision of Love" topped the singles chart in Canada and New Zealand as well, and peaking within the top ten in Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Aside from its chart success, the song was lauded by music critics. In a retrospective review on the album in 2005, Entertainment Weekly called the song "inspired" and complimented Carey's use of the whistle register in the song. Additionally, Rolling Stone said that "the fluttering strings of notes that decorate songs like 'Vision of Love', inspired the entire American Idol vocal school, for better or worse, and virtually every other female R&B singer since the nineties." Bill Lamb from About.com said that "'Vision of Love' is one of the best songs of Mariah's recording career [...] It is simply one of the most stunning debut releases ever by a pop recording artist."

"Love Takes Time" served as the album's second single. The song became Carey's second single to top the singles chart in the United States, and third chart topper in Canada. While the song achieved strong success stateside, "Love Takes Time" barely charted inside the top ten in New Zealand and outside the top 20 in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. "Someday", the album's third single followed a similar pattern as "Love Takes Time," topping the chart in the US and Canada. In Australia, it peaked outside the top 40, and number 38 in France and the UK. "I Don't Wanna Cry", the album's final single in the United States also reached the chart's summit. The song became Carey's fourth chart topper in the US, finishing number 25 on Billboards year-end chart. Aside from peaking at number two in Canada, it charted at number 49 in Australia.[38] Carey became the first artist to have their first five singles top the Hot 100, of them four belonged to Mariah Carey.[11] A fifth single, "There's Got to Be a Way", was released in the United Kingdom, where is peaked at number fifty-four.