The mystery of Mariah Carey’s 2001 album continues.

“Glitter” suddenly rose to number 1 on iTunes this week out of nowhere, with no re-release or promotion. The album, a failure in 2001, just re-appeared. It’s not even available for streaming, isn’t on Spotify, and almost no copies of it exist.

According to BuzzAngle and hitsdailydouble, “Glitter” sold just over 4,000 copies. It finished at number 36 for the week.

Just to spell this out: the actual number 1 album for the week, Kane Brown’s “Experiment,” sold 106,775 copies including streaming. All week on iTunes, “Glitter” was positioned higher than “Experiment.”

Even now, “Glitter” is at number 13 on iTunes. Meanwhile, Mariah’s actual new album, “Caution,” is number 4. It’s her first first hit album since 2009.

But how did “Glitter” become a hit just on iTunes– especially when it wasn’t really selling? Why is still now a fake hit on iTunes?

One theory is that somehow iTunes has been gamed and is doing nothing about it. Something similar happened a couple of weeks ago with Chinese pop star Kris Wu. Suddenly, ten of his singles swamped the iTunes singles chart. His album jumped up the albums chart. No one knew what was going on. Billboard and Nielsen are still trying to figure this out. But very quickly, Kris Wu dropped off the charts and life went back to normal.

Carey’s fans think something magical happened. Carey may, too. But the whole “Glitter” issue has somehow been faked. In time, it will be figured out.

Meantime, The Beatles sold 61,000 copies of their new White Album box set. That number included 10,000 streams. That’s a real sale.

As of midnight, Mariah Carey has two albums in the top 5 on iTunes. One is her new “Caution,” a very good record that debuted at number 4 when it was released.

The other is “Glitter,” from 2001, which has mysteriously infiltrated the iTunes chart for days at number 1. Now it’s number 5.

Nothing explains the “Glitter” revival. Insiders at iTunes are perplexed, too. One theory is that somehow iTunes has been hacked. It’s being checked.

One problem is that Buzz Angle, which counts albums sold, has “Glitter” at just 3,000 copies from last Friday through Wednesday night. If that’s the case, Buzz Angle has “Glitter” at number 28 so far for the week that ended Thursday night. Why has it been number 1 on iTunes? And it has no streaming. “Glitter” isn’t available on Spotify and few physical CD’s still exist.

The mystery continues today…

As for “Caution,” we’ll follow this closely. Mariah’s last album of new material, “Mariah. The Chanteuse” sold just 122,000 after debuting at number 3. “Caution” should do much better.

Last night Diane Warren got the awards season started by winning the Hollywood Music In Media award at the Avalon in Hollywood. Her award was for her Best Song In A Documentary “I’ll Fight” from “RBG” sung beautifully by Jennifer Hudson.

UNBELIEVABLY Diane has 9 Oscar nominations and no wins. So it’s TIME for a win. Listen to Jennifer Hudson, one of the all time greatest singers, deliver this gem. Caution: you won’t be able to get it out of your head.

BTW The HMMA recognizes music in visual media, which includes film, TV, video games, trailers and commercials.

Other HMMA winners include:

Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt for “A Star is Born’s,” “Shallow.”
Max Richter won for the score for “Mary Queen of Scots.”
Ludwig Goransson won for “Black Panther.”
Alexandre Desplat for “Isle of Dogs.”
Elton John and Bernie Taupin for their “Stronger Than I Ever Was,” from “Sherlock Gnomes.”
Kendrick Lamar’s “All The Stars” from Black Panther.
“Quincy” won for best Music Documentary.
Nicolas Britell won for HBO’s “Succession.”
Carlos Rafael Rivera for Netflix’s “Godless.”
Julianne Jordan and Julia Michels- Outstanding Music Film Supervision for “A Star is Born.”
Jen Ross for Starz’s “Power.”
“Black Panther” for Soundtrack Album.
Thomas Ades for “Colette” for Original Score for Independent Film.
Annie Lennox for “Requiem For A Private War,” from “Private War.”

Eventually even Mariah Carey had to grow up. The mother of two, still prancing around like a sex kitten with a twinkle in her eye, has her best album in a decade with “Caution,” to be released tomorrow.

Since 2005’s “The Emancipation of Mimi,” Mariah had drifted more and more into generic hip hop. Her unique voice became more and more strained as she tried to replicate the magic of that comeback album. Three albums of new material successively sold worse and worse as she aged, shed her core audience, and had any number of publicity debacles.

But let’s skip past the failures. With new management and PR, Mariah also gave in and got some real music makers for “Caution.” Timbaland is prominent throughout the ten tracks. So are top hip hop composers and producers Skrillex and Poo Bear (I know it’s all nicknames, what can you do?). These guys know how to make catchy pop records– they work with the Justins (Timberlake and Bieber). They’re not fooling around, or sampling. They’re like real record producers of yore who know hooks and where to put a voice.

This group has created a warm space for Mariah’s voice to shimmer. She’s not belting, as in “Visions of Love.” But she’s not yodeling anymore, either. The producers have fashioned a Janet Jackson-type record for Mariah, where a 50 year old woman ignoring her age can find peace. It works.

Unfortunately, four of the 10 tracks have already been released as singles and failed. This was a mistake. The best of them, “The Distance,” deserves another chance. Even “GTFO” comes off better on the album than it did on its own. The only no-no is the misuse of the non word “Irregardless,” on the song “A No No.” Whoops!

The six newer songs are really strong, catchy, sultry, commercial and well played by Mariah. “Giving Me Life” and “Portrait” are stand out ballads. “Stay Long Love You” featuring Gunna is the main upbeat track, and it can be remixed for radio or clubs easily. There’s a lot of piano on “Caution.” I wish I knew who was playing it. (No credits yet.)

But for once, we’ve got Mariah’s voice front and center, no apparent tricks. The feel is almost Anita Baker-esque. I really liked a track called “One More Gan” (gan being again). Like the other tracks, “One More Gan” evokes the glow of a rich R&B album that adults and kids can embrace.

I’m impressed. I didn’t know if Mariah had this in her. Now, she should book some small venues and show off her work.

PS That “irregardless” — it’s not that way on the official lyrics. It’s Regardless, which is proper. Maybe Mariah needed to lengthen the word; she did it herself. It’s still not a word.