Carey's friendship with Starr grew

As Carey's friendship with Starr grew, so did her interest in helping Carey succeed in the industry.[18] On a Friday night in November 1987, Carey accompanied Starr to a record executives gala, where she handed her demo tape to Tommy Mottola, head of Columbia Records, who listened to it on his way back home.[18][19] After the first two songs, he became so enamored at the sound and quality of Carey's voice that he turned around returned to the event, only to find that she had left.[19] In what has been widely described by critics as a modern day Cinderella-like tale,[20][21] after searching for Carey for two weeks, and eventually contacting her through Starr's management, he immediately signed her and began mapping out her debut into mainstream music.[18] While she maintained that she wanted to continue working with Margulies, Mottola enlisted top producers of the time,

including Ric Wake, Narada Michael Walden and Rhett Lawrence.[18] Mottola and the staff at Columbia had planned to market Carey as the main female pop artist on their roster, competing with the likes of Whitney Houston and Madonna, who were signed to Arista and Sire Records respectively.[22] After the completion of the album, titled Mariah Carey, Columbia spent an upward of $1 million to promote it.[23] Though opening with weak sales, the album eventually reached the top of the Billboard 200, after Carey's exposure at the 33rd annual Grammy Awards.[24] Mariah Carey stayed atop the charts for eleven consecutive weeks,[25] and she won the Best New Artist, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance trophies for her single "Vision of Love".[26]

 The album yielded an additional three number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, following the four week number-one run of "Vision of Love". Carey became the first artist since The Jackson 5 to have their first four singles reach number one.[27] Mariah Carey finished as the best-selling album in the United States of 1991,[28] while totaling sales of over 15 million copies