Mariah Carey’s ‘Fantasy’ Debuts At No. 1 On Charts

Just when it looked like Team Jackson would combine to break and rebreak every major chart record relating to the nation’s most popular songs, along comes Mariah Carey.

This week, Carey’s just-released “Fantasy” blasted onto three major singles lists with an intensity that all but obliterated the recent history-making performances of both Michael Jackson’s “You Are Not Alone” and sister Janet Jackson’s “Runaway.”

So Janet set a new chart record for solo females when “Runaway” entered the main pop list at No. 6?

Big deal. Carey blew that to bits, just two weeks later, with a debut for “Fantasy” at No. 1.

So Michael became the first artist ever to have simultaneous No. 1 debuts on both the pop and R&B singles list, when “You Are Not Alone” was released last month?

Again, big deal. This week, Carey’s “Runaway” was an instant No. 1 on not just two but THREE top lists: pop, R&B and dance sales.

All of this was very bad news not just for the Jackson singles - “You Are Not Alone” slipped from No. 2 to No. 3 and “Runaway” remains stuck at No. 5 - but for last week’s champ, Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise.”

In normal times, any single with the sales figures that “Paradise” has been racking up would have had enough momentum to stay at No. 1 for months. But after just three weeks as leader, the song was forced down to No. 2, with virtually no chance of grabbing the top spot back from “Fantasy.”

And, oddly enough, the only chart where “Fantasy” has been slow to catch on is the adult-contemporary list, where Carey traditionally has been a superpower. But there, the song is barely making a dent at No. 16 and poses no immediate threat to the six-week champ, Seal’s “Kiss From a Rose” (which also remains in the pop Top 5 at No. 4).