Butterfly debuted at number 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart with 236,000 copies sold in its first week; it remained there for one week, in the top twenty for twenty-one weeks and on the chart for fifty-five weeks (making one re-entry). The album sold more in both its fourteenth week and fifteenth week of release than in its opening week, peaking at 283,000 copies in its fifteenth (when it was at number 8). It has been certified 5x platinum by the RIAA and produced two number 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100: "Honey" and "My All." "Honey" became the sixth single (and the third by Carey) to debut at number 1 on the Hot 100. The album also yielded the airplay-only singles "Butterfly" and "Breakdown." "The Roof (Back in Time)" and "Whenever You Call" received limited release in some countries.
Rolling Stone described Butterfly as "a transitional album" for Carey, who placed herself firmly in the "milieu of modern hip-hop-inflected R&B," while Allmusic stated that "it is one of her best albums, illustrating that Carey continues to improve and refine her music which makes her a rarity among her '90s peers."
"Honey" was nominated for the 1998 Grammy Awards for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song, while "Butterfly" was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The album won a Japan Gold Disc Award in category International Pop Album of the Year. For Butterfly, Carey won the American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist in 1998. The album also helped her win the BMI Pop Awards for "Songwriter of the Year" and the "Songwriter" awards for "Honey," "Butterfly" and "My All." Additionally, Carey won the Top Female Artist Blockbuster Entertainment Award.
Butterfly was selected as one of the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
The album received platinum certification in Europe.

Mariah Carey 2008年最新专辑《E=MC²》，也是她的第11张录音室大碟。
E=MC² 是爱因斯坦的著名理论，也就是质量和能量之间转化的公式，当然Mariah Carey采用这个作为专辑名称也是有寓意的。“E”代表Emancipation(呼应上一张专辑《The Emancipation of Mimi》)，即释放、解放；“MC”就是Mariah Carey的首字母缩写，E=MC²于是就有了另一个含义。
其中《Touch My Body》也成为Mariah Carey的第18支冠军单曲，这一成绩超过了“猫王”埃尔维斯·普莱斯利（Elvis Presley），她因此成为仅次于披头士乐队的艺人。闻听喜讯后的Mariah Carey在接受美联社采访时表示：“我从不认为自己是那种既革命了音乐又改变了世界的人。这是一个完全不同的时代纪元……我只是很开心，很感激。”披头士仍以20首冠军单曲领先所有歌手。
《Touch My Body》不但登上公告牌的冠军，还在发行的第一周就以28.6万的下载量稳坐数字下载榜的头名。Mariah Carey说她很感激自己能跻身猫王、披头士等伟大歌手之列，因为这不只是她个人的成功，而且对女歌手和少数派而言都意义重大。她说：“我所在流派在音乐界总有种局外人的感觉，谢谢上苍，在我遭到否定的时候给了我自信的信念。”