With her 18th chart-topper, "Touch My Body," Mariah Carey has passed Elvis Presley for the most No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and is now second only to the Beatles.

But while the diva was in full celebration mode after learning of her latest milestone, she was also quick to put her accomplishment in perspective.

"I really can never put myself in the category of people who have not only revolutionized music but also changed the world," Carey said via phone from London. "That's a completely different era and time ... I'm just feeling really happy and grateful."

Carey had been tied with Presley with 17 No. 1 singles; the Beatles are the all-time leaders with 20. She said being in such company was gratifying not only because of her personal success, but also what it meant for women and minorities.

"For me, in my mind, the accomplishment is just that much sweeter," she said. "In terms of my ethnicity, always feeling like an outsider, always feeling different ... for me it's about saying, `Thank you, Lord, for giving me the faith to believe in myself when other people had written me off."'

Carey, 38, said this is the most enjoyable point of her nearly two-decade-old career, and that's her priority these days, not setting sales records or even making pop history.

"I've gone through enough of my life worrying about that kind if thing," she said.

"I want to encourage anyone else out there who feels like maybe they can't overcome an obstacle, I feel like I'm living proof ... never lose your faith," she added. "I'm seriously a grateful individual right now."

>Associated Press