Mariah Carey on being "one away from the Beatles": "It's astonishing"

Most music fans know Mariah Carey has a ton of #1 hits, but one particular statistic is mind-blowing to her.

Mariah has scored 19 #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. That's the most of any solo artist and just one fewer than the all-time record holders, The Beatles, who had 20. Asked what that means to her, Mariah tells Billboard, "I don't know what I think about that! I don't know. I think it's astonishing."

She continues, "On one level it's like, '[I] don't really care.' But it's not. To have 19 #1 singles and be one away from The Beatles … I don't know how I can't acknowledge that. One away from The Beatles … that's a lot. I think it's a little hard to wrap my head around."

Speaking about songwriting in general, Mariah tells Billboard, "I wouldn't be happy with my life if I didn't do. And I don't just do it for the credit or anything else. I do it because I love to do it."

Here are some other fun Mariah chart stats: She's the only artist to have three songs top the Hot 100 for at least 14 weeks each with the Boyz II Men collaboration "One Sweet Day," "We Belong Together" and "All I Want for Christmas Is You." All told, she's spent 93 total weeks on top of the Hot 100 — the most of any act.

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