Nicki Minaj may be assert her ‘Queen’ status on her new album of the same name, but she has to settle for second place on the Billboard 200.
For, per the final US sales tally, the ‘Chun-Li’ led set has been been beaten by the second week sales of Travis Scott’s ‘Astroworld’ album.
Dive below for details and digits…
The Hip-Hop forces engaged in a hard-fought battle; on Onika’s end, she paired organic buzz for ‘Queen’ with Tidal, tour, and merchandise bundles and even added Tekashi69 collaboration ‘FEFE’ to the digital tracklist mid-week to benefit from added streams.
While on Travis’ side, he also drew on merch bundles as a primary weapon, as well as a monetary giveaway to fans who bought the project. Clearly, he was here for the duel, as he had already snagged the top spot on the Billboard 200 the week before – debuting with a colossal 533,000 SPS.
Now, he’s snatched another week atop of the pack and here’s how the numbers look (courtesy of Hits Daily Double):
Travis Scott:
222,555
[Sales Plus Streaming]
———-
93,998
[Pure Sales]
********
Nicki Minaj:
190,131
[Sales Plus Streaming]
———-
82,843
[Pure Sales]
****************
Say what folk will, we can’t critique an act for throwing everything and the kitchen sink to secure what they want – which in this case is the top spot. After all, it’s a competition so there should be no expectation of ‘Kumbaya.’ Especially with an album named ‘Queen.’
On that specific note, Nicki is now tasked with maintaining her numbers weekly and building towards a big total so as for the project to live up to its title — commercially.
Do you think she can do it?
Impressive that she was able to double her prediction sales from 40 to 80 other than that she could’ve kept the album
That’s because she created non sense drama and added FEFE to her album
And selling it for $5 ???
I just wonder what the streams would be had she not added FEFe
I agree. Her sales would be drastically less if she did not add Fefe to boost her album sales when really those streams belong to 69 and not her. She is the featured artist on that song. Who puts a song with a p*** where they are the feature on their album? Thirsty Auntie Onika. If Onika had just released Chun Li and put the album out right after her numbers would be higher by their own merits because Chun Li goes hard. Instead auntie waited and let the hot steam of Chun Li die down before releasing her album and this Ganga Burn single does not go as hard as Chun Li or LLC.
So you are saying you are only interested in an album that sells a lot, sigh so sad. in my opinion, Nicki’s album queens is a very good hip-hop album.
Nah. Definitely mediocre. Sounds rushed and while I have thrown my share of shade at her, I KNOW she can do so much better than this.
Hggjfsuvyhfhjjgfjkl after all that promo and desperate attempts she deputs @#2 yet once again **heads to twitter for them meltdowns** ……. Kylie better buy those plaques
The moral of the story don’t tag yourself let the public hand it to you #Queen
Trueyarn
Nicki needs to gap the scene
Idgaf she’s still THE QUEEN OF RAP B******! corni and those other bums will ALWAYS be peasants lmfaooo!!!??????
Kanyetta is the Queen of Rap not Onika.
That’s not what you said when Beyonce debuted @#2 b*****
“Hang it up!!…Flatscreen!!”???????????????
Are u dumb? *remy ma voice*
Flop?
Both of them put up impressive numbers. Nicki could have done so much more had she released another single 2-3 weeks before her album. Also, if she had stuck to her original release schedule, she would have had more physical product out which equals higher sales. She should’ve also started pushing that bundle a little earlier for even more sales. Next, she should put the album on sale. Her team weren’t efficient with the set up of this release.
Greedy and unorganized .
Sorry I disagree. You have to think from a business perspective when it comes to album sales (quality vs quantity). Bundles mean a reduction in revenue. Selling 100 albums at full price ($13 to 15) is drasticly better than selling 200 at bundle price of 5 bucks. Bundles also hurt sales. When consumers learn of a bundle they missed they usually wait until another bundle is offered or pass on the album totally. Her second week sales will suffer a major reduction in sales.
Get that. But chart wise the numbers are higher which was the ultimate goal. The album will go back to it’s regular price.
I agree, and she need to fire her crew when next album drop.
Knowing Nicki, she prolly demanded her crew make that type of bundle and price drop along with all the other decisions they’ve made this era. You know she likes to take full control of everything which isn’t always the best idea.
On the other hand, this is def her weakest album imo. I only like & play 2 tracks; Barbie Dreams & Coco Chanel.
Excuses. It’s not her crew, it’s her and her lack of talent
Great a #2 album for the #2 top female rapper in the game
Lol. … lil kim called it YEARS ago.
Her best bet could be to work on next week numbers but Arianna Grande album is out now. … so yea, she can chalk this album at being at number 2…. she should just focus on getting a speedy platinum album now…
Even if she did…… she’d still have to bring Aretha back to life or go back in time and prevent her departure from this realm
I CANNOT. SCREAMING ???? Somebody… 911… pleeeeeeease!!! ???
HDD already predicted that Sweetener would outchart Queen
Good. She deserves everything that’s happening to her now.
They said numbers come Sunday
MTV awards are monday and cardi has a lot of noms and opening the show. sorry but if her performance is better than nicki’s after all the shade nicki threw this week saying she’s the queen, anyone that didn’t get or stream iop will def go take a look after seeing both acts on the same stage on the same night. that will crown who is on top at the moment. nicki gon have to bring it. oan u betta believe cardi taking at least 2 awards home.
Fourth album 190,131 sales, I say she did pretty good.
83 pure is a huge drop from the 160K she did on her last album. She’s washed, the 2nd week will be over a 50% drop.
Actually her last album she did 196,000 pure.
Which means her total 1st week SPS this album is lower than her last’s pure sales alone. smh
Not for nothing, but this isn’t surprising. Nicki’s roll-out was messy and backed by no hits to really propel it. Not to mention the majority of her promo appearances saw her come across as angry and bitter. Why you so mad, ma?
Someone in her team needs to sit her down and talk to her about the fact that these numbers are a reflection of the public’s care for her these days, which has drastically diminished since her last release. Life is serving her up some humble pie, and if she was smart she would evaluate how her own attitude has gotten her to this place after only 4 albums.
And it’s all downward from here
People will say it’s excuses , but the rollout was sloppy and managed poorly … if more people were able to actually get the physical copy and the dates weren’t so screwed up, I think she would’ve done a little better.
Anyways how is No.2 a flop ? ??♂️
I know number 1 is the aim , but having the second best selling album in the country is hardly a flop.
I think the narrative would be different had this not been the second week that Travis Scott’s album was out. The big debut was last week for him, so it seems like it should have been relatively easy for a big star like Nicki Minaj to debut at #1 on the first week her album was out.
Actually that’s true , I Agree.
Nicki doesn’t care about being #1, she cares about selling more than CARDI. If Nicki lands at #10 but sells more than Cardi, she will be happy. Nicki wants to keep the narrative, “best selling female rapper.”
They had to add fefe to get to that figure
Overall, these are still very good numbers. She just has to parlay everything properly. Singles, performances, promotion etc..
Nicki is on Twitter acting like these numbers are a feat and touting up her #1 in 81 countries on Apple Music or something. Girl you flopped and without a bonafide hit on her hands I feel like this will be like JT’s Man of the Woods where nobody is talking about this album in two weeks.
Some countries only take 3 sales to become #1.
Hahahahahahahaha! Less than Cardi, pure and sps. Nicki and her stans needed some humble pie. 🙂
EXACTLY!! sings “oh u the queen of this here flop album platinum plaque album b**** where” “see to be the queen of rap, u GOTTA SELL RECORDS u gotta get plaques (s) like the s on my chest NOW SIT YO BUMB ASS DOWN U GOT A F ON YA TEST…..OKURTTTT ????she did all of that safree dissing cardi dissing, cd tour bundles, $5 discount, radio shows, promo runs, having one of the “biggest stanbases” (as she said), “I AM THE QUEEN” talk, AND STILL didn’t debut higher than my man Travis Scott in his SECOND week??? i have to LAUGH. She has literally had a promo event EVERY DAY and is on a Vogue Cover and STILL couldn’t do it lmao i am weak. #Humblebegginings
“we don’t make diss records, we make hit records and diss you on them.”
While album is dissing other female rappers, while album is a flop. ?
And then making fun of Remy for going to jail when she would have been in the same cell if her ex didn’t lie when she stabbed him. The clown came back to bite this week. ?
Don’t forget, “They say numbers don’t matter, but when they discussing the kings, they turn around and say LeBron ain’t got six rings!”
This is about what I initially thought it would be. Still crazy that Travis Scott’s album that came out a whole week earlier stayed at #1 over her. Apparently I been sleeping on him.
U wish you was sleeping on that eggplant #Gapit
Lol no
ALL SIGNS point toward CARDI being Queen so Nikki needs to retittle that Boring lackluster 5/10 Album to either DUST, FLOP #2, OR PEASANT ?
Nicki should have been able to sell 100K pure sales 1 week she everything possible in her favor what is hurting her is these manufactured beefs with Cardi every time she has something to promote as of late and just acting like a spoiled child who feels like she has to be the only one is doing more bad than good. This era is going to be Nicki’s humbling experience hopefully she can accept it graciously.
SHETHER hurt Nicki. SHETHER made everybody say hmmmmm.
I’m still happy for her. She’s #2 therefore she topped 98 other people, not to mention the other people who didn’t even make it on the charts. Like the one guy said, male rappers always outsell female rappers. There’s not a lot of guys that buy female rappers’ music. Cardi just dropped her album at the right time. If Cardi would’ve dropped her album at the same time Drake did I know hers wouldn’t have went to #1 either. The Pinkprint also debuted at #2.
Cardi would have beat Travis Scott SECOND week tho. ? stop with the excuses barfs it’s a FLOP by Kween Standards PERIOD. 100k PURE SALES is the new benchmark and Nikki missed that mark so FLOP Like a 2018 floppy Disc ?
Cardi: ?
Iggy: ?
Nikki: ?
Remy: ✏️
?
@Diabetes… – Lies! Cardi would NOT have beat her 2nd week. She was at #2 second week because Jason Aldean dropped his album AND her 2nd week sales were LOW!
#Fact Check
But that was Cardi’s 1st album, this is Nicki’s 4th and it’s titled QUEEN. There’s no reason she shouldn’t have debuted at #1, especially for an artist of her caliber.
And you can’t say “at the right time” to downplay Cardi’s chart status. Everyone artist’s aim is to try and release “at the right time”. In this case, Nicki thought this was “the right time”, that’s why she pushed it back 2 months, and it didn’t benefit her AT ALL.
**Every artist’s aim**
Ri Ri this is the perfect time for Nicki to release an album. It is highly expected and no other album debuts came from an artist with as much celebrity as Nicki. Thus, she literally had no competition. Travis Scott’s numbers are for his second week so he should have been obliterated by Nicki. The problem is that her fans are unloyal. Not enough of Nicki’s fans are not buying her new album.
You summed it up perfectly. This should’ve been the ideal week for her to release. However I think Nicki’s fans did buy her album. It’s just she’s lost ALOT of fans since 2017.
GapTheScene says there are 52 weeks in the year. Nicki be needin to drop in a non existant 53rd week to come no1 haha.
GapTheSceneGirl. Just Gap It
Okay but the album that is above her has been out 2 weeks already and it’s Travis Scott, not Drake who always does astronomical numbers. Nicki is a bigger star than Travis Scott but the numbers aren’t telling that story.
Nicki will be earring a lot of humble pie this era. Especially when the tour stars well that’s if it does due to the lack of interest
The delusional bottom Barbs really thought people were checking for Nicki’s fix-a-flat booty. Her second week sales will be disastrous. Barbie tears taste so good.
Numbers from where? neilson is said to be giving out numbers on Sunday ….
Nevertheless the better than the 120 it was first predicted
What an epic failure. She has hundreds of millions of followers on social media, so many songs that she’s featured on this year and 4 singles off the Q**** album, $5 bundle for an album, h** poster and Tidal trial – and yet she failed to secure the number 1 spot. Wow. To be honest, I never expected her to last longer than a year. I’m glad that circus is finally coming to sn end. Congrats to Cardi for becoming the new Queen of Rap. Also shout out to the originator, Lil Kim, Queen Bee.
“The Barbs” are not out here streaming or purchasing albums, they just doing/saying outlandish s*** for attention.
The pattern for Nicki for the last two years has been stream high numbers for the first day, then dramatically drop the following days. Nothing has sustained over a week accept FEFE. That’s why I don’t see the point of posting chart numbers after 3 hours of releasing music. Nicki posted about being no.1 in over 62 countries, yet her album isn’t no 1. That s*** is so subjective.
QUEEN NICKI SLAYED per usual Of what her album was predicted to sale. QUEEN is one of the best album released this year a GREAT BODY WORK her best album since PINK FRIDAY I LOVE YOU QUEEN.. #1 in 86 Countries SLAY BABY❤️
#1 QUEEN OF RAP PERIODT!!!
It would have slayed better if your broke ass bought it. Fake fans like you is why she could not beat a less famou artists’ seconr or third week sales. Since when is Travis Scott selling more than Onika? Times have changed.
Respiratory LambandBurgers- you fat ass donut neck tenderloin stomach pouch having b**** get a life. ALL you do is sit up her all day and wait for Nicki post and hate I don’t see you commenting on nothing else. You sundried up raisin face titty sagging fish trout smelling h** COMMENT How to lose weight in 30 days POST B**** WONT DO THAT
Bum trailer park trash day b****
Bum trailer park trash fat b****!!
She slayed all the way to number 2 boo. haha
Queens get number 1’s. Bodak that! and #GapTheScene
GAP BETWEEN ALL TEETH is your name right!!! Some of the great artist get Number 2 baby QUEEN is Still being talked about as one of the BEST ALBUMS this year.. EVERYTHING IS LOVE came in at #2. INVASION OF TRASH I won’t speak of !!!
JaQuanna – GapTheScenes the name , don’t wear it out.
Now apologies for the delayed response but I had to google your “everything is love” reference because I honest to god did not know what that was, I came to find out it was beyonce and Jayz’s album, Another artist who needs a new manager to put her back on track. #Beyneedsamanager #Beyscareerintheboxtotheleft
Back to Nicki, no.2 is great but she stoked her own fire and called herself a Queen however the album, her attitude, her needy-ness is not the brand she promised. She a used car salesman
She gave her album away for free, sold it for $5 and tidal, added 6ix9ines’s songs for streams, had 2 months preorder, had a tour and merch bundle, caused controversies with multiple artists AND yet she still failed to outsell Travis in his second week ??
Nicki buried herself. Unfortunately
Cardi was never expected to do the big numbers however she did, can’t be mad that she’s enjoying the success. Travis has a loyal fanbase that is similar to that of Frank Ocean and Jay Cole…they support his s*** regardless of any hype or lack thereof. A few months ago there looked to be a consensus on the cancellation of Drake (not me of course) but somehow God’s Plan and KeKe made them forget all that, Drake does big numbers without even trying…hate it or love it. Nicki and her fans on the other hand have been doing the most for five months…after doing all that talking, chirping, shading, etc those MFs that Nicki calls fans only showed up to get ya girl the number #2 spot on $190K totals
anyways…billboard is probably gonna have to put new rules in place after the fefe fiasco caused so much drama with the labels. it really isn’t fair that a feature track gets added on after the fact just to generate more streams.
as for onika, it speaks volumes that even after all the discounts and bundles etc that her pure sales were still so low…like i thought that would’ve at least been 100k there. the barbz should’ve actually supported their queen instead of terrorising and bullying everyone else. welp, their fave did encourage i
Adding FeFe midway was one of the most desperate things anyone has done to get a #1 in recent memory, and it still didn’t work. ??♂️
Nicki playing that white collar s***. “Oh but theres no rules around that, so its not cheating”.
imma need to see her tax return to see if she playing with the numbers on those as well.
#GapItgirl
Cardi: ??
Iggy: ?
Nikki: ?
Remy: ✏️
Nicki always want to put herself in the category with male rappers until it comes to sales. THEN she wants to compete with women. Nicki has never did King-Level numbers. Even Kanye beat her debut sales. But this is ridiculous — 3 months on preorder, large fan base, bundled with tour, steals FeFe streams, reduce album in the first month to $5.00. Nicki said this was her best album yet. She should’ve rolled with whatever came and still stood by her work.
With all you mention I agree, this sad 3 months of pre order& they told her she wouldn’t beat Ariana so she went back to her regular week & still fail
She is very unfresh.
This is about music, she needs a bonafied hit.
She needs a manager and work on that bad attitude.
Be careful or soon I’ll suggest she #GapTheScene
Why didn’t she put No Frauds on her album instead of KeKe? OFF TOPIC: What happened to Nicki’s voice?
Pills & Potions
Meanwhile #NickiMinajIsOverParty is #3 trending worldwide on twitter ????
Maybe if she would humble herself a bit
Why didn’t Remy release her album the same day ? She would have done the same amount in streams as nicki just for the comparison from everyone. If nicki only did these numbers I can only imagine rem rollout for her pushed back album?!! Female rap is being shaped and molded in a new direction ass we speak. Nicki better adapt and stop being bitter.. kim is now getting 10 years later.. hence all her albums charting… let’s go femal rap
This is a classic album for Nicki
i forgot it already #Gap the scene
She done flopped BIGLY. Cardi first week sales: 255,000. We know who the real queen is. Nicki you fat lazy beetch maybe if you weren’t so all over the the place (Egyptian album cover, Chinese video ?) and stopped the barbie bs people would buy your isht! Fyi don’t nobody give a fawk about no 40 year old Barbie. I thought new album = New look??? You bore me nicki you fat beached whale ?
Alexa,……… play Never Gonna Get It by EnVouge
Ganja burn ganja bur,
Bey AND Jay’s JOINT album sold less than this, and they were #2 to some teeny-bopping boy band, but they didn’t care to address S***. Why? Because they’re BEYONCE and JAY-Z and after a certain point, although you may not be on top of as many charts anymore, it doesn’t really matter because you’ve already put in the work that has solidified you as an icon. You don’t need numbers to “prove” anything anymore. You’re secure & you’re good with all you do.
Lawd knows Nicki Minaj is crying because her pop/rap isn’t what’s wanted!! Ole dude is winning & injectables isn’t !! ✌?? what would Lil’Kim do at this time? ?”Bzzz”?