The Emancipation of Mimi - Commercial Performance

Commercial Performance

The Emancipation of Mimi became Carey's highest-selling album in the United States since Daydream (1995). In its first week of release in the United States, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with over 404,000 copies sold, the highest first-week sales in Carey's career, until E=MC², which opened with 463,000 in 2008. It became her fifth number-one album in the country and her third album to debut at number one. It remained inside the top ten for several months before dropping to number eleven on September 28, 2005. The album remained in the top twenty for thirty-one consecutive weeks. It returned to the top five after the release of the Ultra Platinum Edition, which helped the album rebound to number four, with sales of 185,000 units. The Emancipation of Mimi was the best-selling album in the United States in 2005, with nearly five million units sold. In the last full week of the year, the album outsold 50 Cent's The Massacre, which had been released over six weeks earlier. It was the first album by a solo female artist to become the year's best-selling album since Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill in 1996. Ten months after its release, the album was certified six-times platinum by the RIAA, denoting shipments of over six million copies. By August 2010, stateside sales of the album are estimated at over 5,941,000.

The Emancipation of Mimi entered the Australian Albums Chart on April 17, 2005, at number thirteen. The following week, it peaked at number six, where it spent one week. The album spent a total of forty-six weeks on the chart. It was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), denoting shipments of over 70,000 units, and finished number twenty-seven on the End of Year Chart. In Canada The Emancipation of Mimi debuted and peaked at number two on the Canadian Albums Chart, with first-week sales of 11,000 units. The album was certified triple platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), denoting shipments of over 300,000 units. The Emancipation of Mimi debuted at number seven on the UK Albums Chart dated April 6, 2005. On July 23, fourteen weeks after its debut, the album once again reached its peak position of number seven. After one re-entry, the album spent a combined forty-three weeks in the albums chart, being certified double-platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipments of over 600,000 copies. In early 2008, the album's British sales stood at over 621,352 units. In France the album debuted at its peak position of number four on April 9, 2005. The record spent a total of fifty-one weeks in the chart, and was certified gold by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP), signifying shipments of over 100,000 copies. Eight months after its release in Europe, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) certified The Emancipation of Mimi platinum, denoting shipments of over one million units throughout the continent. In Hong Kong it was awarded a Gold Disc Award, which is issued to the top ten best-selling foreign albums each year. It debuted at number two on the Japanese Albums Chart, and was certified platinum (250,000 units shipped) by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). At the end of 2005, the IFPI reported that The Emancipation of Mimi had sold more than 7.7 million copies globally, and was the second best-selling album of the year, after Coldplay's X&Y. It was the best-selling album worldwide by a solo and female artist. By April 2008, The Emancipation of Mimi had sold over 12 million copies worldwide.