Mariah Carey is now officially the most popular female artist in the history of the US music charts after scoring her 16th number one single.

The singer's new song "We belong together" has spent eight weeks crawling up the Billboard Hot 100 and has now toppled Gwen Stefani's "Holla back girl" as the fourth chart-topper of 2005, reports the Internet Media Database.

"We belong together" is also Carey's biggest hit ever, and the most successful single for her new record company Def Jam. Only the Beatles (with 20 number ones) and Elvis Presley (with 18) can boast more Billboard chart-toppers than Carey.