Mariah Carey's 'Elusive Chanteuse' Debuts at No. 3
Mariah Carey returns to the charts with her first album in five years, but the sales were less than stellar.
The singer’s 14th album Me. I Am Mariah…The Elusive Chanteuse enters the Billboard 200 at No. 3 with 58,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
It becomes her 17th top 10 album. Her last non-holiday effort, 2009’s Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, debuted at No. 3 with 168,000.
Despite positive reviews, The Elusive Chanteuse marks Mariah’s smallest opening for a non-holiday album since SoundScan started tracking sales in 1991. Her previous low was 1991’s Emotions, which opened at No. 4 with 156,000.
The album spawned singles including the Miguel-assisted “#Beautiful,” which hit No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, and “You’re Mine (Eternal),” which peaked at No. 88.
Teen pop star Austin Mahone also makes a top 10 debut with his EP The Secret, which comes in at No. 5 with 46,000.
Michael Jackson’s posthumous LP Xscape slides 3-7 with 35,000, while Iggy Azalea’s The New Classic closes out the top 10 with 18,000.