Nicki Minaj is dominating the rap arena with her new album, Pink Friday 2.
The Trinidadian rapper’s album has exceeded expectations as it raked in accolades just days after the album was released. Nicki Minaj has been in the rap business for more than 20 years, but her continued dominance is envious as she is still the biggest and bestselling artist, bridging several generations of musicians.
Over the weekend, Minaj released her long-awaited album Pink Friday 2, her first album release in five years. The album featured several previously released tracks by Minaj but a large number of new songs for her craving fanbase, the Barbs.
As expected, Nicki Minaj’s opening day numbers did not disappoint as she broke the Spotify record for the biggest debut for a female hip-hop album in Spotify history, according to Chart Data.
Correspondingly, the album was eligible for Gold certification as it sold over 500k units within 24 hours of release. The number for Minaj’s album sales is not surprising as she has a large fanbase of loyal fans who celebrated the coming of the album with a huge “Gag City” marketing campaign that dominated the digital space.
As for her album numbers, Nicki Minaj might have the biggest opening day and week sales for a hip-hop album for 2023.
So far, only Travis Scott’s ‘UTOPIA’ has sold 496,000 album units in its first week with over 650 million streams globally, while Drake’s ‘For All the Dogs’ sold 402,000 units in the first week.
Chart Data reported on Saturday that the album is looking at a No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200 chart with 170-190k units in the first week. This would also mark Minaj’s third No. 1 album, which also earned her the title of the only female rapper to hold that record.
The album is also leading as the No. 1 album on several platforms, including Apple and iTunes.
In the meantime, Nicki Minaj shared gratitude to her fans for their support.
“Just gratitude and a bit of shock I guess. Barbz, you guys are the real MVP’s & everyone knows it,” the rapper captioned a post of rave reviews of the album by Forbes, Billboard, and others.
In another post, she wrote, “Thank you to everyone who helped on this album in any way. And of course. Thank you for listening.”
The Empire State Building in New York City was also lit up to celebrate the album, leaving Minaj speechless.
“My goodness. This is one of the most poignant moments in my life for so many diff reasons. I came from a tiny island to this big CITY. (GAG) I experienced the hardest times of my life there- but it gave me the tenacity that God knew I’d need! Today it was lit up pink for me. Doesn’t seem to get more full circle than this,” the rapper said.