''The Essential Mariah Carey'' is the third

greatest hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

album by American singer and songwriter

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whi ...

. The album was released in June 2011 in the U.K. and Ireland as a repackage of her previous album ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

''. In the U.S., it was released on May 9, 2012, as an entirely new greatest hits album as part of Sony's The Essential series, and contains songs released during Mariah's time at

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. It replaces some songs (featured on the original 2001 ''Greatest Hits'' release) with their extended club mixes, and others being completely removed in favor of tracks that had not been released as singles. Much of the artwork inside the album booklet is very similar to that of the ''Greatest Hits'' release.

Track listing

UK and Ireland edition

US edition

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Essential Mariah Carey Mariah Carey compilation albums 2011 greatest hits albums Albums produced by Ric Wake Albums produced by Walter Afanasieff Albums produced by Jermaine Dupri Columbia Records compilation albums