Mariah Carey Net Worth

Mariah Carey is known as one of the greatest singers of all time with an impressive career stretching decades and plenty of hits. Whenever the singer belts out a tune, she leaves everyone in awe of her vocal skills. Not only is she a highly acclaimed singer, but also a songwriter, producer, and an actress.

Name: Mariah Carey
Age: 49
Born: 03/27/1970
Country: United States of America
Profession: Singer, Songwriter, Record producer
Last Updated: June 4, 2019
Image Credit:

The media may lash out at her for being a diva with a loud personality, but her level of success is unprecedented when you consider her estimated personal net worth of $520 million. Carey can wear all the diamonds, tiaras and short black dresses she wants. It’s just a small chunk of change to this girl!

What is Mariah Carey Net Worth? How did Ms. Carey accrue a fortune of half a billion? We’ve got all the details below.

Mariah Carey’s Early Life

Mariah Carey did not always have such a luxurious and glamorous lifestyle she is accustomed to now. The iconic singer actually comes from a very humble background.

The singer was born in Huntington, New York, on the 27th of March, 1969.  A lot of people are curious about Mariah Carey ethnicity. Her father, Alfred Roy Carey, was of Afro-Venezuelan and African American descent, while her mother, Patricia, is Irish. The surname Carey was chosen by her Venezuelan grandfather, Francisco Núñez after he came to the United States.

Her mother was an accomplished vocal coach and an opera singer, who was later disowned by her family for marrying a black man. Her parents divorced when she was just a child, and her mother then raised her. Carey showed talent as a singer from a young age and Patricia trained Carey vocally to expand her singing range.

At school, the Hero singer only liked Literature, art, and music.

During her teenage years, Mariah Carey also began writing songs and was determined to make it in the music industry.

Carey’s Career Beginnings

While trying to catch a break in the music industry, she lived in Manhattan with four female students and would work as a waitress at a restaurant to pay the bills.

Nick Cannon’s ex finally managed to record a demo tape but was unsuccessful at trying to pass it on to record labels. Soon after recording the demo, Carey was introduced to pop singer Brenda Starr.

Mariah and Brenda became good friends, and Starr was very keen on helping Mariah succeed in the industry. She presented Carey’s demo tape to Tommy Mottola, the head of Columbia Records, which after listening to it, left him in shock and awe of her talent. He searched for her for two weeks, luckily managed to find her and then signed her on the spot.

Mariah released her self-titled debut album in 1990. After its initial release, the album sales struggled a bit. However, the album eventually hit the top of the Billboard charts and made it to number one. She won two Grammy Awards for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Newcomer. After selling over 15 million copies, her debut record went on to become the best-selling album of 1991 in the United States.

She released her second studio album ‘Emotions’ the following year which peaked at number four on the Billboard charts. Carey started working on her next studio album Music Box which released in 1993. Music Box was a massive success, reaching number 1 on the charts. Singles from Music Box including Without You and Hero did exceptionally well worldwide, and are known as some of her most iconic songs.

Her fourth album Daydream came out in 1995 and cemented Mariah Carey’s status as the most successful female artist in the music industry during the 90s.

Mariah Carey In The 1990s

At the end of the 90s and into the Millennium, Carey, like most singers tried to reinvent herself to stay relevant in the industry. Her studio albums released during this period showed a diverse range of musical genres and collaboration with many other artists.

Experimenting with her craft and reinventing herself proved to be a success. She continued to achieve mammoth record sales and performed at many sold out concerts across the world.

Since 1993, she has headlined ten world tours and has made an enormous amount of money from ticket sales. It was also during this period of her career that Mariah Carey decided to branch out into acting. Her debut film called The Bachelor came out in 1999. However, when people think of Mariah Carey’s acting, they automatically think of 2001’s Glitter, which didn’t do very well at the box office and also garnered some negative reviews. In 2017, Carey appeared in Girls Trip and The Star.

Carey was a rare talent that commanded a serious paycheck even at the very beginning of her career. In 2001, Mariah switched record labels, moving from Columbia Records to Virgin Records. At the time Los Angeles Times reported, her deal with Virgin Records was worth $80 million for just four records. However, a year later she was dumped from the record label after her first album with it, Glitter, which was also the soundtrack of her movie, flopped — but she bagged a $28 million buyout along the way. Her later albums, of course, put her back on track to success and helped her sell over 55 million albums throughout her career. No wonder Mariah Carey net worth is half a billion.

Mariah Carey’s Love Life

The singer is a force to be reckoned with in the music industry. She is the third most successful, best-selling female singer of all times in the United States. Sadly, her love life has not been as great as her career. Carey has moved from one relationship to another, making an impressive list of ex-boyfriends along the way.

She started dating her Columbia Records boss Thomas Daniel Mottola while she was working on her debut album. The couple tied the knot in 1993 at the Manhattan’s St. Thomas Episcopal Church. The stark age difference between the couple was particularly obvious, seeing as Tommy is 20 years older than Mariah. However, it was a short-lived marriage, which resulted in divorce because of his controlling nature.

After her divorce from Mottola, Mariah Carey’s boyfriends include Derek Jetter, Eddie Griffin, Luis Miguel, (allegedly) Eric Benet, Eminem, and Christian Monzon.

Her next marriage was to Nick Cannon, who is an American rapper, comedian, producer, radio and TV personality. They met while they were shooting the music video for her single Bye Bye on a romantic island off the coast of Antigua.

The two had a whirlwind relationship and shocked the world by announcing their engagement after less than six months of dating. Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon had a stunning sunset wedding in a secret ceremony in the Bahamas in 2008.

Mariah Carey gave birth to the couples’ twins, Monroe and Moroccan, who were born on the 30th of April, 2011, which was also their parents’ third wedding anniversary. However, the fairytale marriage was short-lived. Nick Cannon filed for divorce in 2014, which was later finalized in 2016.

Shortly after her estrangement to Nick Cannon, she got engaged to billionaire James Packer. After breaking up with Packer, she is now dating dancer Bryan Tanaka.

Mariah Carey Net Worth

Carey has made some of her millions through album sales, Vegas residencies, appearances, perfumes, and endorsements. In 2013, Carey judged the 12th season of American Idol along with Niki Minaj, Randy Jackson, and Kieth Urban. According to multiple reports, her salary for the season was $18 million, $6 million more, than her fellow Idol judge Nicki Minaj. The difference in the salary’s resulted in a feud between the two. Later, Carey also signed on to rival show The Voice in 2018, appearing as a guest mentor for an undisclosed amount.

In 2015, she made Forbes’s list of top-earning female artists, thanks to a successful residency in Las Vegas that earned her a staggering $27 million. After her first Vegas gig came to an end, she signed on for another residency at another Vegas venue, which according to The Black was worth somewhere in the low eight figures (at least $10 million and probably more).

As of 2019, Mariah Carey net worth is estimated to be $520 million. Over the course of her career, Mariah Carey has released fifteen studio albums, many who peaked at number one, three compilation albums and four greatest hit records. She also went on to release a remix album. To this day her Christmas singles are some of the most beloved in the world.