Pop diva Whitney Houston is no doubt spitting chips having lost her one week only number one Billboard spot, with Shoop Shoop Exhale, to Mariah Carey's second Daydream single, One Sweet Day, after Mariah's second record-breaking debut of the year.

DEVONPORT (07 Dec 1995)- After seven consecutive weeks at the number one ranking on the Billboard US Hot 100 Singles, Hot R&B, Hot Dance, Single Club Play, overall Singles Sales, overall Maxi-Single Sales, Dance Maxi-Single Sales and R&B Singles Sales charts, Mariah Carey's Fantasy has earned the title of song of the year in the US. It is the longest-running number one single of 1995 on all the mentioned charts, and is the longest top spot debut run in Billboard history. However, in Fantasy's eighth week, Whitney Houston's Shoop Shoop Exhale stole Mariah's throne, and Whitney became the second female artist to debut at Billboard number one.

Whitney's success was to be short lived, however, with Mariah's and Boyz II Men's duet One Sweet Day reclaiming the top spot after only one week. The single is only the fourth song in Billboard history to debut at number one, and Mariah can lay claim to an amazing two out of of those four record-breaking debuts.

With the airing of Mariah's Fantasy special in the US this week, and the recent launch of television advertising campaigns for the Daydream album throughout the world, including Australia, Mariah is set to soak up much of the Christmas market this season. A special promotional tour to Europe this month will also see a further boost in Mariah's popularity in the region.

In spite of all this additional promotion, Daydream has sold well on its own, accompanied only by posters and cardboard cut-out Mariahs in every music shop from New York to Devonport. In fact, Daydream recently attained double platinum accreditation in Australia (selling in excess of 200 000) after only seven weeks, which makes it the biggest fastest selling album so far in this pre-holiday season.

But the promotion for Daydream is only one facet of Sony's Mariah-mania grand plan this Christmas, with the timely re-release of Mariah albums past especially for Mariah displays in shops everywhere. Additionally, the recent launch of the CD+ multimedia format has seen the release of a bell-and-bobtail-ring interactively cute version of Mariah's Merry Christmas. This and the CD release of the Joy To The World remixes are both likely to prove themselves to be popular stocking-stuffers this Christmas.

(In the 1995 Archer Awards, Mariah Carey takes out Best Artist, Best Album with "Daydream", Best Single with "Fantasy", as well as the corresponding awards in the Female Vocal category.)

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Articles copyright 1995 Kade "Archer" Hansson; e-mail: archer@kaserver5.org

Last updated: Thursday 21st November 1996