Mariah Carey: Singer’s Career Ruined By Divorce?

Mariah Carey has parted ways with Nick Cannon, inducing controversy that shook fans and critics for the past few months. The marriage, and its sad and painful fate, was allegedly mired in bitter spats and feuds for fortune. Although the singer appears to have rekindled a purely friendly relationship with the actor, people continue to focus on the bitter side of the split. Custody negotiations would be the next hot topic, and we can’t be too sure whether Mariah will be able to keep her cool with Cannon.

Even family members are getting hurt. Carey’s ex-father-in-law, James, recently posted a feisty Facebook status allegedly criticizing how Mariah acted as a wife to his son. Although there hasn’t been any confirmations if the status was really against her, fans of Mariah Carey were quick to storm social media sites to defend their favorite singer.

It wouldn’t be too surprising to expect Carey’ career to take a toll from this split. After all, highly-publicized cases of divorce, like Mariah Carey’s, have been observed to negatively affect people’s work life. A few netizens who have been following Carey’s separation from the Drumline actor believe that the move will definitely hurt the singer’s career.

However, this doesn’t seem to be the case as Mariah Carey’s life onstage continue to flourish without Cannon behind her back. TIME rigorously computed Mariah’s records over the past few decades and discovered that she has the most consistently successful careers compared to even younger performers. The magazine created an interactive infographic describing every singer who has made it to the Billboard Top 10 since the 1960s. Here is how TIME described their methodology:

Data comes from the Billboard archives. Points are awarded by placement in the Top Ten, from ten points for a number-one hit to one point for a number-10 song. All artists listed by name on a track are given full points for its chart performance, but groups with members who later had solo careers are still counted as separate entities.

According to the data, Maria Carey had her best year in 2005 when she released We Belong Together, Don’t Forget About Us, and Shake It Off. We have to remember that Mariah and Nick weren’t married during this year (the two tied the knot in 2008), This perfectly indicates that although the actor may have had contributions to Carey’s work success, he was definitely absent during Mariah’s best years.

Mariah Carey is set to commence her Asian tour next month, starting in Tokyo on October 4.

[Image from Scott Kinmartin/Flickr]