2 years, 1 album, and 31.5 million+ singles sold is just what it took for Cardi B‘s name to be penciled in the history books of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) again.
First nabbing headlines in December 2018 when she became the first female artist ever (of any genre) to see every track from one album certified Gold or Platinum, now – thanks to enduring success from her debut effort, ‘Invasion of Privacy’ – B (born Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar) is invading RIAA record books once more.
Details inside:
This week brought with it news Almanzar’s total career certifications to date reached the 31.5 million mark (for singles) thanks to the success of her recent hit, ‘Press,’ and ‘Invasion of Privacy’ album track, ‘She Bad (featuring YG).’ With the tunes crossing the organization’s threshold for Gold (500,000 units shifted SPS) and Platinum (1,000,000 units shifted SPS) respectively, the numbers gave Cardi just the push she needed to surpass longtime nemesis Nicki Minaj in the history books as the most certified female rapper (digital singles).
[source]
The Harajuku Barbie may sit pretty in history books for her record-setting 104 entries on the Hot 100, however, the RIAA – unlike Billboard – does not attribute the success of an artist’s features to his or her overall career stats. As such, while Minaj may have assisted a number of the decade’s biggest hits to Gold, Platinum, or Multiplatinum status, she is only credited by the organization for songs that she’s listed as the leading act.
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B**** how… im not even a fan. But Nicki can’t be beaten just like that.. C’mon. Ya’ll want to cancel that lady so bad
Facts don’t lie. Her singles are higher certified than Nicki’s.
They’re not. Nicki has in total 115M RIAA certificated songs, while Cardi has 68M.
Salty? ?
Forget Nicki, how is she ahead of Queen and tied with Adele. You can’t tell me that s*** ain’t Payola.
Don’t listen to these articles. Nicki is still the most certificated female rapper of all time. Nicki has sold between 119M units while Cardi has sold 68M units with features included. Yes RIAA does count features… they just don’t put it in the lead artist box. The only reason why this happend is because Nicki hasn’t updated like half of her discography? If she did, she would be at 60M-70M units as a lead artist. Nicki has tons of songs she hasn’t updated. Nicki has more (aka the double of more) streams than Cardi on Spotify, Youtube, Apple Music & other platforms as a LEAD alone. She also dominates cardi by 90% with pure sales, as nicki came out in that era. So to everyone talking about ”she took nickis crown” or ”cardis above nicki” she’s not. she just managed to updated hers certifications faster which is quite weird, as artists never really update their certifications unless its a single. Cardi did it for songs that weren’t even singles. Nicki’s updated songs are nearly all singles. Beyonce is also below Cardi on RIAA. U really think most certifications equals as best selling? Bc Nicki still sold MORE than her. Both as a lead artist & as a feature. With worldwide sales included, Cardi is even further away from reaching Nicki’s type of sucess, as Cardi is a very local artist while Nicki is international. We have to let them know bc they don’t get it & That Grape Juice should delete this article.
Chile please. I love Cardi b but we all know you can’t compared artist who sold prior to streaming to today’s artist. It’s just impossible and inaccurate to compare.
It’s specifically for single sales though. And the RIAA is as accurate as it gets. Nicki doing all those features bit her on her booty shots b***.
for as much as i can support the whole “it’s not fair to compare artist success pre-streaming vs post-streaming” eras, you have to remember nicki only had ONE ALBUM out before the RIAA started counting streams. i mean yeah it was her most successful album but still most of nicki’s career has been during the time the riaa counted streams toward certifications
Yes but streaming was not the primary way of music consumption during Nicki prime days. When Nicki released Starships, Anaconda, super bass and all her massive singles that’s crossed over…streaming was either non-existing or not primary.
Where as streaming has been primary the whole length of cardi’s career. And cardi also don’t have that many songs. She had like 3 major hits. So how sway?
Just don’t feel that it is accurate to compare the 2. If
It’s not inaccurate. Her singles are higher certified. Nicki and Cardi are both competing in the single era. It’s very fair.
Respectfully, streaming is king in 2019. That’s like Lil Kim saying she sold more cassettes than Nicki in 2009…nobody bought cassettes in 2009.
True
Physical copies are physical copies! Not that same as streaming so it’s inaccurate to compare without inflation (just like currency and history!.
Hilarious! The day she retires. This is what you call classic. Take note Nicki! LOL
Grape juice revels in discord between Black female artists. Their heavily gay community LOVES this type of behavior and only believe that you must have an allegiance to one artist over another. This new fad of canceling artists because they’ve over stayed their welcome is ridiculous and mean….just like the culture.
Preach ! All these blog are manipulating the general opinion to see those girls rip into each other
I can agree with you but this is the kind of thing Nicki Minaj created. She can talk about female unity all she wants but she never showed it with her actions until it was too late. The whole industry even rapper Shawnna (of all people) has had problems with Nicki. Nicki is psychotic. Now she can cause discord with The Golden Girls.
The simple fact that you believe Shawnna (of all people) shows that you’re an idiot.
And I OOP
i have a number of issues with this article.
1) stans on tgj’s fb are mad but they have to realize that RIHANNA and DRAKE have more single certifications than Michael jackson and Madonna. doesn’t make them BETTER, simply means they’ve benefited from digital sales and streaming more than their counterparts. if you click the tab on RIAA site to ALBUM SALES, rihanna and drake aren’t probably even in the top 50 – literally
2) CERTIFICATIONS ARE PAID FOR BY RECORD LABELS! This means that regardless of how much a single or album has sold, if the label doesn’t pay for the sales to be audited and verified, they wont’ be updated by the RIAA. simple as that
3) barbz trying to undermine cardi’s accomplishment need to realize that Nicki herself earned this record even quicker than cardi! sadly, it wasn’t a hard record to beat
i wonder why people feel like blogs have to set females up against each other if they report FACTS
if the headline just said “cardi b most certified ever” trust me plenty of her fans would’ve rubbed it in barbz faces
facts are facts. nicki held the title, cardi snatched it.
Exactly. And this is just the start for Cardi B. One album in.
So Cardi is now,the queen of rap ? C’mon we can do better… better let the title untouched then
Lauryn Hill tease
This is one of the best days ever in rap music. Nicki announced her defeat (or “retirement”) and Cardi will drop a new single at midnight and broke Nicki’s record within two years. #TheCardiBImpact
Agree good day to retire perfect cardi team sit back and watch and released them numbers ??????
Ok so where is Cardi now😂😂😂😂 go watch that pity show she called a concert in Thailand..even her labels tired…
The fact that billboard doesn’t credit Nicki for her features is unfair especially considering the fact on most of them she has the best bars
no sweetie, billboard DOES credit her for her features. It’s the RIAA that doesn’t
This! ?
Boop
Great time to retire Nicki ????????
These are NOT single “sales.” These represent UNITS sold. There’s a HUGE different. Also, streaming is a scam. You get a unit added to record sales because someone played your song? Lmao. If 5 million people play your song 100 times, that’s not a 8 million sold. It should be based off how many people played your song, not how many times the person played a song. That’s silly. And let’s not forget cardi’s pure sales for the album are at 280,000.
Queen of rap period haters mad mad
Congrats to Cardi!
Hahaha! Gurl these Nicki fans gonna have to be put on s****** watch ? So much bad news today!
Pure sales >>>> steaming. They should count pure sales as double & go back & update every artist who came out before the streaming era who worked hard for their sales smh this is getting out of hand
Streaming is not the same as pure album sales. You can play a song for free over and over. It’s different. Streaming has made getting certifications way too easy.
#dead. All of this was too much for Nicki. I can’t believe Wendy is offseason…I cannot wait to hear her thoughts on Nicki retiring after all of these consecutive L’s ?? Bye Nicki.
“I could lay a verse and lay these h*** to rest.” – Cardi B (2019 – “Yes”)
Bye Nicki ???
Well deserved. Congrats Cardi❤
you hooooes love to make it seem like streaming is so easy, but if it were there would be more people getting these kinds of numbers
1500 streams equal 1, count em, JUST ONE sale. that means a song has to be streamed billions of times, free or not, to get the kinds of numbers cardi has accumulated
Exactly
But you forget ita easier to stream a song now with all the apps and tacha t our disposal tha to go actually use money to purchase a track I love cardi but lets be guided here when probably when camilla cabell does this to one of your faves or one of this really new pop girls achieves this over certified pure sale learners that you will get woke ok, let’s be guided here
I really wish TGJ would provide more context.
Nicki minaj’s Biggest hits but haven’t updated on RIAA site since 2017, some even before that
I bet if nicki paid for the update her certifications would def be more than Retardi’s!
Chile hush!
All they can report on is what is and not what maybe. The “she hasn’t updated” narrative is played and speculative
We cannot guarantee that cardi’s Certs are completely up to date either
The concept of fanbase in general is horrible… Most of them will do anything to make their favorite look good, just like they were insecure.
Appreciating one person doesn’t mean you need to spit on another. And regarding public beefs, we already knew it would happen. It’s all smoke and mirrors. Don’t recreate those beefs between fanbases.
This is how you realize the whole unity thing sounds great on paper but they don’t do what they preach.
Cardi is the new Queen of rap
I really like nicki but i just love her verses on others singles i’m not into her own music! Instead i really like cardi b music! This is the prove quantity always mean In female rap i think nicki has the best verses, cardi b has the best album/body of works and iggy has the best single(they are always bop)… and i’m not commenting lyrics
*quantity doesn’t always mean success
This is what has prompted the payola probe. Makes no sense. There were extra dollars at play here.
Exactly
Female rap is an embarrassment of epic proportions how can you only have two rappers vying for the top spot??? Male rap you have Kendrick, j Cole, drake, Migos etc.. all allowed to coexist in the same space. Smh!!
Yassss Queen Cardi stays wining
Nicki canceled for good, ✌️✌️
FAKE NEWS.
You guys do know that records are meant and will always be broken right??? So what’s the problem? Nicki isn’t God or untouchable. She left her mark and that’s that. Life goes on. Now it’s time for other artists to leave their mark. The barbs are the most weirdest, making excuses for everything Nicki, delusional fan base ever. Get a life.
It’s a lie and she should have never worked with her
Wasn’t it Nicki who was fighting for the streams to count. I do remember that. So I need her fans to take that into account. She wanted this too.
?? And there you have it!!!!!
All you have here is inaccurate “reporting” Nicki sitting pretty with 113M certified units ?
It’s just way too much….
Way to go Cardi!!!!!!!!!????????✌️
This is craziness, wtf did Nicki p*** off or not kissing the ring so they trying to erase her. this isn’t making any sense this is so inaccurate.
And this is why there is an investigation out now. Smh. Not sure how 31.5 mil is a bigger number than 65 mil but hey it is what it is
they do count features lol. these are just solo singles. Nicki is the 3rd most certified artist on riaa. with around 110 million certified units, please stop spreading lies.
Um I’m not sure what y’all are sipping in the tea over there, but the claim that RIAA doesn’t contribute features to the success of an artist is a BLATANT LIE. Nicki is absolutely credited for all plaques any of her features get! That’s why she’s the THIRD BEST SELLING FEMALE ARTIST. Rihanna is #1, Taylor #2, Nicki #3, Katy Perry #4, Mariah #5. Lies lies lies!
This is false, Nicki is still the most certificated female rapper of all time. Nicki has sold between 119M units while Cardi has sold 68M units with features included. Yes RIAA does count features… they just don’t put it in the lead artist box. The only reason why this happend is because Nicki hasn’t updated like half of her discography? If she did, she would be at 60M-70M units as a lead artist. Nicki has tons of songs she hasn’t updated. Nicki has more (aka the double of more) streams than Cardi on Spotify, Youtube, Apple Music & other platforms as a LEAD alone. She also dominates cardi by 90% with pure sales, as nicki came out in that era. So to everyone talking about ”she took nickis crown” she didn’t, she just managed to updated hers certifications faster which is quite weird, as artists never really update their certifications unless its a single. Cardi did it for songs that weren’t even singles. Nicki’s updated songs are nearly all singles. Beyonce is also below Cardi on RIAA. U really think most certifications equals as best selling? Bc Nicki still sold MORE than her. Both as a lead artist & as a feature. With worldwide sales included, Cardi is even further away from reaching Nicki’s type of sucess, as Cardi is a very local artist while Nicki is an international artist. Nicki has more plaques. Period. Tell ole girl to wrote her raps before yall talk about the Queen. #TeamNickiForLife
Who wrote this bs the lies they tell cardi ain’t passed nicki at all her singles flopped 🤣🤣once riia started investigation of payola where cardi at now streaming nowhere 🤣🤣braatatata
I’m with you girl..I don’t see her anywhere.. she even came out saying that she doesn’t have passion for making music anymore..the crap…she know she a flop.. try and mess with the Queen o Oka😂
This is such a lie!! As it stands today, nickinis the 3rd most certified female artist in all of music!! Cardi isn’t even in the top 10 list!! You all need to stop! Cardi is no where near Nicki. Not in sales, chart entries, CERTIFICATIONS, or streams!! Nicki is 4 albums. And 3 world tours past Cardi. At this point, all cardi can do is try to catch up! And of these certifications are from stream equivalents! Cardi doesn’t have alot of pure sales. Most of Nickis certifications are from pure sales! Make sure you include that next time!! Yall really tried that!!
cardi b queen of rap pass super frky granny
Hahahaha yes she surpasses the Queen by dropping babies instead of albums 😂😂😂yo go take your meds.. the Queen onika is still popping and besides the Queen didn’t sign a 360 deal
Ohh u a fan.. no an ac because you even know her song titles.but I bet she ain’t older than your girlfriend 😂😂
Ohh u a fan.. no an ac because you even know her song titles.but I bet she ain’t older than your girlfriend
Like yo hold up…who😂😂😂😂the stripper???ok so where is she now cuz I don’t see her.. her label just pushed her so hard but not they are bailing out and all she can do now is give you babies.. go watch her Thailand concert.. she a flop.. Nicky Minaj be the undisputed queen .. go google yo on her 😂😂😂😂
Where Cardi at now😂😂😂😂😂payola gone wrong Nicki be topping charts yo……go listen to super freaky girl and tell me who’s the boss😂Nicky Minaj is a legend