Mariah Carey Hits The Top 10 Alongside One Of The Greatest Singers Of All Time

Mariah Carey’s annual comeback on the Billboard charts has started. Thanksgiving hasn’t even arrived yet, but the singer’s Christmas takeover isn’t waiting for what is traditionally considered the beginning of the holiday season. While much of the focus for Americans is on her inescapable “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” as well as the album it’s featured on, the superstar actually rises highest with a different tune.

“When You Believe” is a top 10 hit in America again this week. The duet between Carey and the late, great Whitney Houston returns to the Gospel Digital Song Sales chart in tenth place, narrowly making it back to the 10-space list of the bestselling tracks in that genre.

Carey and Houston have already kept “When You Believe” on the Gospel Digital Song Sales ranking for more than a year, though not all in one successful stretch. The track has racked up 83 stays somewhere on Billboard’s religious-themed downloads tally.

“When You Believe” has come very, very close to hitting No. 1 on the gospel sales list, though so far, it has yet to conquer the ranking. It peaked at No. 2 in February 2012, and in the decade-plus since, it hasn’t been able to climb even one space higher.

Carey has yet to top the Gospel Digital Song Sales chart, and “When You Believe” remains her only top 10 hit on the roster. Houston, meanwhile, has performed considerably better than her collaborator, as quite a bit of her output can be classified as gospel.

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Throughout her career, and even afterward, Houston collected four No. 1s on the Gospel Digital Song Sales chart. All but one of those leaders—“I Look to You” (both the solo version and one that credits R. Kelly, which was counted as a separate entry) and “His Eye on the Sparrow”—reached the throne following her passing in early 2012. Only “Do You Hear What I Hear?” made its way to the top spot prior to her departure, and it only managed to hit No. 1 months before she died.

“When You Believe” is one of three comebacks on the Gospel Digital Song Sales chart this week, and it’s the lowest-ranking of the bunch. Two other popular tracks in that style, “Oh Happy Day” by the Edwin Hawkins’ Singers (and Dorothy Combs Morrison) and “Change in Your Name” by Nouri, sit just ahead of Carey and Houston. Those cuts reappear at Nos. 8 and 9, respectively.

It was a major musical event when Houston and Carey collaborated on “When You Believe,” which was written for the animated film The Prince of Egypt. The Stephen Schwartz-penned cut won Best Original Song at the Academy Awards, and it peaked at No. 15 on the Hot 100 before the new millennium.