The most Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s by a single artist is 19 by Mariah Carey.
She co-wrote 18 of those songs (her No. 1 haul was her 1992 MTV Unplugged cover of the Jackson 5's “I'll Be There”) and discusses her songwriting process in Portrait of a Portrait, a new Audible Original released Thursday (May 23).
Since January 2020, the storytelling platform's Words + Music franchise has produced 40 recordings.
The latest version goes deep into Carey's 2018 studio LP Caution's song “Portrait” while covering her career, which began with her first Hot 100 No. 1, “Vision of Love,” in 1990.
It also debuts a house remix that turns the ballad into a club hit.
“It gave me the ability to talk about these lyrics, which I haven’t done,” Carey concludes the Audible Original. “So it’s been cathartic for me.”
I hope you had the experience you were searching for. “I don’t know what to tell you if you didn’t,” she laughs.
In addition to her record number of Hot 100 No. 1s as a solo artist, Carey's modern classic carol "All I Want for Christmas Is You" tops Billboard's Holiday 100 list.