The introduction of streams to the album sales calculation mix in 2014 made Nicki Minaj one of the last contemporary musicians to see the majority of her records and achievements generated by pure sales.
This, shielding her hard-earned chart records from threats launched at her by those of her stream-dependant rivals.
Now find out how these numbers have helped Minaj extend her lead as the highest-selling female rapper of all time, and one of the fastest-selling artists to debut within the last decade.
Below…
The rapper’s third studio album ‘The Pinkprint’ spent a total of 123 weeks on the Billboard 200 making it the only album by a female rapper to make Billboard’s Longest Charting Albums by Female Artists on the Billboard 200 list.
Its success, like the majority of Minaj’s singles, can be attributed to the rapper’s “habit” of selling sizeable units over a lengthy period of time which sees her outpace and outsell high-profile releases which score high chart positions in their opening weeks but lose their footing (and the general public’s interest) shortly after.
See the list in full below…
#1 ’21’ 435
#2 Born to Die 330
#3 1989 253
#4 Teenage Dream 236
#5 ANTI 194
#6 BEYONCÉ 185
#7 ’25’ 173
#8 Badlands 158
#9 Red 154
#10 Dangerous Woman 154
#11 Speak Now 137
#12 The Pinkprint & CTRL 123
Here’s a breakdown on some of Minaj’s biggest “sleeper hits.”
Her Pop single ‘The Night is Still Young‘ was released a single on April 28th 15 and peaked at #93 on the Billboard Hot 100. Months later, it surpassed sales of 1 million units and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
‘Truffle Butter‘, which appears on the same album, failed to impact the United Kingdom’s Top Ten once it was handed the singles treatment even with help from Drake and Lil Wayne. It was certified Silver for sales of over 200,000 units before its first full year on the Official Singles Chart.
On April 7th 2011, the rapper launched ‘Did It On ‘Em‘ as the sixth single from her debut album ‘Pink Friday.’ When it arrived on the Billboard Hot 100 it was to do so modestly thanks to a peak position of #49. It was certified Gold six months later and has moved over 1.5 million copies worldwide since then.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all good in Minaj’s hood this week.
Hit this link for more positivity…or keep reading to find out why the entertainer slammed an entertainment journalist who discouraged a group of up and coming rappers from naming her as a musical influence.
Your thoughts?