8 Inspiring Celebrity Career Comebacks

Mariah Carey

Armed with a five octave vocal range, Mariah Carey proved early that she was a force to be reckoned with when her 1990 debut self-titled album produced four number one hits and earned her two Grammy Awards. She rarely surrendered the top spot and in 1998, she was deemed the world’s best-selling recording artist of the 90s. Carey, a notoriously career-driven artist, worked to maintain that success at the turn of the century. But in 2001 she suffered a breakdown. After a stint in the hospital to recover from exhaustion, she released Glitter, but both the film and the accompanying soundtrack of the same name flopped. In 2002, Virgin Records bought out Carey’s contract. But the pop diva wasn’t down for long. She signed with Island Def Jam and her first album for the label, The Emancipation of Mimi, produced the number one hit, “We Belong Together.” The Emancipation of Mimi was named the best-selling album of 2005 by Nielsen SoundScan. Carey continued her reign on the charts and in 2008, she earned her 18th number one single, placing her only second behind The Beatles for the most number one hits.