More than three decades after it became a commercial juggernaut, Mariah Carey’s Daydream debuts on the U.K.’s Official Album Downloads chart inside the top 20. Mariah Carey during a music video shoot for “Fantasy” at Playland, August 1995 in Rye, New York. (Photo by Kevin Mazur Archive/WireImage)
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By the time Mariah Carey released her fifth album Daydream, she had already become one of the biggest musical stars in the world. The project was built upon the singer’s signature blend of pop and R&B, which helped turn her into one of the greatest hitmakers of all time and remains central to her output to this day.
Daydream celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 2025, though Carey and Columbia Records waited until only a few weeks ago to release an expanded edition commemorating the milestone. The album becomes a bestseller again thanks to a new digital version and several physical offerings, including a baby-pink vinyl pressing. Renewed interest helps send the set to one chart in the United Kingdom that it had never reached before.
Mariah Carey’s Classic Debuts on the Downloads Chart
Daydream debuts at lucky No. 13 on this week’s Official Album Downloads chart, nearly becoming a top 10 bestseller in the U.K. The ranking focuses only on full-length projects and EPs purchased digitally on websites like iTunes and Amazon, among others.
The launch gives Carey her eighteenth career appearance on the Official Album Downloads chart. It marks her first new entry since Here for It All, which peaked at No. 3 less than a year ago, in October 2025.
Carey first reached the downloads roster with Merry Christmas. The holiday collection arrived on the tally in December 2006, years after it initially became available. Its popularity is, at all times, powered by “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” one of the most successful songs of all time, which returns to the charts every December.
Mariah Carey Scores This Week’s Ninth-Highest Debut
It is a particularly busy week on the Official Album Downloads chart. Even as Daydream, a project first released more than three decades ago, comes close to entering the top 10, it ranks as only the ninth-highest new arrival.
Carey trails debuts from several current releases and artists, including Gracie Abrams, Motionless in White and As It Is. The soundtrack accompanying the blockbuster film The Odyssey also opens in a loftier space.
Mariah Carey Returns to an R&B Chart
Daydream also returns to the Official Hip-Hop and R&B Albums chart – the only other tally in the U.K. where it is to be found this week – where it reappears at No. 18. The collection has now spent 72 weeks on the genre-specific ranking.
The album originally debuted at No. 1 in October 1995 and spent one frame running the show. This latest comeback brings it back into the top 20 more than 30 years after that quick victory.
It has been more than half a decade since Daydream last appeared on the Official Hip-Hop and R&B Albums chart. The set most recently reached the tally in November 2020, when it climbed to No. 11 for one week before slipping away. Before that, the album hadn’t appeared on the ranking since 1997.
Mariah Carey Revives One of Her Biggest Albums
Daydream produced several of Carey’s most famous singles, including “Fantasy,” “One Sweet Day” with Boyz II Men and “Always Be My Baby.” Those tracks became enormous commercial successes and moved millions of copies around the world – and they further established the singer as a global superstar.