Upon the release of her new EP ‘The Re-Up‘, ‘American Idol‘s Nicki Minaj surprised fans when she revealed that a number of major retailers would not stock the project.
Explaining that previous re-releases had left these retailers ‘wary’ of supporting her own, it became apparent that if the project was to ‘fly’, it would have do so- at least for the most part- on a digital tip.
And fly it did when it forced its supporting LP ‘Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded’ 80 spots up the Billboard 200, helping it to enjoy a sales increase of 591% percent, with sales of 36,000 units.
Now, amid criticism that the project under performed, Billboard have explained why the project has indeed been a success. So successful, that retailers who wouldn’t stock it last week are now considering placing orders for it in the coming weeks.
Details below…
Pushing combined sales of ‘Reloaded‘ well over the 1 million units sold worldwide mark, Billboard said of ‘The Re-Up‘:
“Expanded reissues aren’t always guaranteed big sellers. It really depends on the extra content and timing of the release … Nicki’s reissue was seemingly timed to profit from holiday shopping.
In the week Katy Perry reissued Teenage Dream, the combined sales of the reissue and the original album were 33,000. That was up 190 percent compared to the previous week.”
Then, in a statement also released to MTV, Target revealed that while they already stock the EP on their online outlet, they will assess the project’s demand before deciding whether to stock up on physical copies, sharing:
“We carry Nicki Minaj’s re-released album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded — The Re-Up at Target.com. Target will continue to evaluate guest demand to determine if the album will be carried in store at a future date.”
However, Best Buy seemed a little less eager to explain why they are yet to house the release, but did explain:
“We are fans of Nicki Minaj [and] are comfortable with our inventory position”.
As it stands, ‘Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded’ has sold 726,875 units in the US since its April 3rd release, making it eligible for a Top Ten position on Billboard’s forthcoming ‘Year End Charts‘ which saw her come in at #7 with her debut effort, ‘Pink Friday‘.
Nicki Minaj – ‘Up In Flames’: