| genre = <!--Sourced in Writing and composition section. Do not add unsourced genres -->

  • R&B
  • pop
  • hip hop

| length = 57:20

| label = Columbia

| producer = *Mariah Carey

  • Walter Afanasieff
  • Sean "Puffy" Combs
  • The Ummah
  • Stevie J
  • Trackmasters
  • Cory Rooney
  • David Morales

| prev_title = Daydream

| prev_year = 1995

| next_title = #1's

| next_year = 1998

| misc =

Butterfly is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey, released on September 10, 1997, by Columbia Records. The album contains both hip-hop and urban adult contemporary sounds, as well as some softer and more contemporary melodies. Throughout the project, Carey worked with Walter Afanasieff, with whom she had written and produced most of the material from her previous albums. She also worked with many famed hip-hop producers and rappers, such as Sean "Puffy" Combs, Q-Tip, Missy Elliott and the Trackmasters. With the latter acts producing most of the album, Butterfly deviated from the adult contemporary sound of Carey's previous albums.

With Butterfly, Carey continued the transition that began with previous album, Daydream (1995), which pushed her further into the R&B and hip hop market and away from the pop background of her previous work. Carey was able to reflect her creative maturity and evolution in the album's writing and recording. Carey writes in the booklet of her twelfth studio album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel (2009), that she considers Butterfly her magnum opus and a turning point in both her life and career. <!--- Do not introduce any information regarding the album's global sales without adding a reliable source. --->

Five singles were released from the album; two worldwide commercial singles and three limited-release singles. "Honey", the album's lead single, topped the charts in Canada and the United States, and reached the top five in New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom. The album's fifth and final single, "My All", became a top-ten hit throughout Europe and topped the charts in the United States. To promote the album, Carey embarked on the Butterfly World Tour, which visited Australia, Japan and Taiwan, with one show in the United States. Butterfly was nominated for three Grammy Awards at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards.

Butterfly received acclaim from music critics, many of whom embraced Carey's musical transition. Reviewers complimented the album for its mature sound and production, as well as Carey's musical direction. Though released during Carey's heavily publicized conflict with Sony Music, the album became an international commercial success, topping the albums charts in many countries, including Australia, Canada, Greece, Japan, the Netherlands, as well as the United States. It was certified five-times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the United States and received the Million Award in Japan. Globally, Butterfly has sold over ten million copies.

Background and release

|}

Commercial performance

Butterfly debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 selling 235,500 copies in the first week after its release on the week of October 4, 1997, the highest of her career at the time. It maintained that position for one week and remained in the top twenty for 21 weeks; it stayed in the chart for 55 weeks, including one re-entry. In the United States, Butterfly was certified five-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Nielsen SoundScan estimates the album's sales at 3,807,000 copies in the US. In Canada, the album debuted at number one and was certified double-platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), denoting shipments of 200,000 copies of the album. Butterfly debuted at number one in Australia, and received a double-platinum certification from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), 140,000 units.

In Europe, Butterfly peaked within the top five in several European countries. It received a platinum certification by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), denoting shipments of well one million copies throughout Europe. In the United Kingdom, Butterfly debuted at number two based on 29,000 sales over three days. Alan Jones of Music Week described this as unexpectedly low given that Daydream had previously debuted at number one based on three-day sales. The album was later certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), denoting shipments of 300,000 copies. The album was certified the Million Award by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), denoting shipments of one million copies. In Hong Kong, Butterfly finished as one of the twenty best-selling foreign albums of 1997, receiving a platinum certification by IFPI. Globally, Butterfly has sold over 10 million copies.]]

In the years since its release, Butterfly has been hailed as being an R&B classic. In a retrospective review for The Washington Post, Bethonie Butler focused on the album's impact, stating that it "changed the face of pop music" by paving "the way for other pop stars...to sing alongside their rap contemporaries". Writing for Jezebel, Rich Juzwiak focused on the influence of Carey's vocal stylings in the track "Breakdown", remarking that "in this day and age, when there's so much genre blending that it's sometimes impossible to label an artist as merely "singer" or "rapper", it'd be foolish to understate the prescience of" the song.

The lead single from the album, "Honey", was notable for pushing Carey further towards hip hop and R&B than before. The music video gained further attention, as Carey, for the first time in her career, was provocatively dressed, giving viewers a "taste of the freer Mariah". Sal Ciquemani, from Slant, gave the video a positive review, complimenting Carey's pairing the sultry song with a "sophisticated tale of a sexy rooftop encounter." Butterfly won a Japan Gold Disc Award in the "International Pop Album of the Year" category. For Butterfly, Carey won the American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist in 1998. Additionally, the album won the BMI Pop Award for Songwriter of the Year and the Songwriter awards for "Honey", "Butterfly" and "My All".

The album was released with two different covers and in 2007 one of them was listed on Maxim Sexiest Album Covers.

Track listing

Notes

  • signifies a co-producer
  • signifies an additional producer
  • "Honey" contains a sample of The Treacherous Three's "The Body Rock" (1980) and The World's Famous Supreme Team's "Hey DJ" (1984)
  • "The Roof" contains a sample of Mobb Deep's "Shook Ones (Part II)" (1994) and Run-DMC's "Rock Box" (1984)
  • "Breakdown" contains an interpolation of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's "Tha Crossroads" (1996)
  • "Fly Away (Butterfly Reprise)" contains an interpolation of Elton John's "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" (1975)
  • "Honey" (So So Def Remix) contains a sample of The Jackson 5's "It's Great to Be Here" (1971) and an interpolation of The World's Famous Supreme Team's "Hey DJ" (1984)

Personnel

Adapted from the Butterfly liner notes.

  • Mariah Carey&nbsp;– lead vocals, background vocals
  • Walter Afanasieff&nbsp;– keyboards, synthesizers, and programming
  • Dan Shea&nbsp;– additional keyboards, drum and rhythm programming, sound design, and computer programming
  • Stevie J&nbsp;– keyboards, keyboard programming, and drum programming
  • Cory Rooney&nbsp;– keyboards and keyboard programming
  • Q-Tip&nbsp;– drum programming
  • Poke and Tone&nbsp;– drum programming
  • Peter "Ski" Schwartz&nbsp;– keyboards
  • Nathaniel Townsley&nbsp;– drums
  • Artie Reynolds&nbsp;– bass guitar
  • Gary Montoute&nbsp;– Hammond B-3
  • Donald Parker&nbsp;– piano and keyboards
  • Michael Cirro&nbsp;– guitar
  • Michael Phillips&nbsp;– EWI
  • Mase&nbsp;– additional vocals
  • The Lox&nbsp;– additional vocals
  • Krayzie Bone&nbsp;– lead and background vocals
  • Wish Bone&nbsp;– lead and background vocals
  • Dru Hill&nbsp;– vocals
  • Melonie Daniels&nbsp;– background vocals
  • Mary Ann Tatum&nbsp;– background vocals
  • Kelly Price&nbsp;– background vocals
  • Trey Lorenz&nbsp;– background vocals
  • Clarence&nbsp;– background vocals

Production

  • Mariah Carey&nbsp;– arranger
  • Walter Afanasieff&nbsp;– arranger
  • Cory Rooney&nbsp;– arranger
  • Dru Hill&nbsp;– arranger
  • Ron Grant&nbsp;– additional arranging
  • David Morales&nbsp;– additional production, arranger, and mixing
  • Satoshi Tomiie&nbsp;– additional production, arranger, and mixing
  • Dana Jon Chappelle&nbsp;– engineer
  • Mike Scott&nbsp;– engineer , assistant engineer , mixing
  • Glen Marchese&nbsp;– engineer
  • Rich Travali&nbsp;– engineer
  • David Gleeson&nbsp;– engineer
  • Bill Esses&nbsp;– engineer
  • Franklin Grant&nbsp;– engineer
  • Doug Wilson&nbsp;– engineer
  • David "EQ3" Sussman&nbsp;– engineer
  • Ian Dalsemer&nbsp;– assistant engineer
  • Ken Ross&nbsp;– assistant engineer
  • Oliver "Wiz" Bone&nbsp;– assistant engineer
  • Steve Jones&nbsp;– assistant engineer
  • Ann Mincieli&nbsp;– assistant engineer
  • Greg Thompson&nbsp;– assistant engineer
  • Tony Maserati&nbsp;– mixing
  • Mick Guzauski&nbsp;– mixing
  • Herb Powers Jr.&nbsp;– mastering
  • Bob Ludwig&nbsp;– mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|-

!scope="col"|Chart (1997–1998)

!scope="col"|Peak<br />position

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Canadian R&B Albums (SoundScan)

|1

|-

!scope="row"|Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)

|13

|-

!scope="row"|Danish Albums (Hitlisten)

|13

|-

|-

!scope="row"|European Albums (Billboard)

|2

|-

|-

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Greek Albums (IFPI)

|1

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Irish Albums (IRMA)

|1

|-

!scope="row"|Malaysian Albums (RIM)

|8

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Singapore Albums (SPVA)

| 1

|-

!scope="row"|Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)

|5

|-

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Taiwanese Albums (IFPI)

|2

|-

|-

!scope="row"| UK Dance Albums (OCC)

|2

|-

|-

|-

|-

! scope="row"| Zimbabwean Albums (ZIMA)

| 1

|}

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|-

!scope="col"|Chart (2017–2025)

!scope="col"|Peak<br>position

|-

! scope="row"| Greek Albums (IFPI)

| 99

|-

|-

|-

!scope="row"|UK Vinyl Albums (OCC)

|26

|-

|}

Year-end charts

{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|-

!scope="col"|Chart (1997)

!scope="col"|Position

|-

!scope="row"|Australian Albums (ARIA)

|27

|-

!scope="row"|Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)

|69

|-

!scope="row"|Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)

|39

|-

!scope="row"|Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)

|24

|-

!scope="row"|Canadian Albums (SoundScan)

|39

|-

!scope="row"|Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)

|align="center"|70

|-

!scope="row"|European Top 100 Albums (Music & Media)

|align="center"|42

|-

!scope="row"|German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)

|74

|-

!scope="row"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)

|24

|-

!scope="row"|Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)

|48

|-

!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)

|63

|-

!scope="row"|US Billboard 200

|54

|-

!scope="row"|US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)

|188

|-

!scope="row"|Canadian R&B Albums (SoundScan)

|27

|-

!scope="row"|US Billboard 200

|21

|-

!scope="row"|US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)

Notes