Nicki Minaj is having a fantastic week on the Billboard charts owing to the release of her new album, Pink Friday 2.
The album, which was released on December 8 by Young Money/Cash Money/Republic Records, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 228,000 equivalent album units generated in its first week. It’s the rapper’s third number-one single, following Pink Friday in 2011 and Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded in 2012.
Minaj’s new album premieres at No. 1 and 14 singles from the album debut on the Billboard Hot 100.
The 14 debuts bring Minaj’s total to 147 career Hot 100 entries — the most ever among female rappers. She passes Lil Baby and Kanye West for the sixth-most overall in the chart’s 65-year history, after Drake (up to 328, thanks to his feature on Needle), Taylor Swift (232), the Glee cast (207), Lil Wayne (186) and Future (168).
Minaj’s career total of 73 top 40 Hot 100 hits is sixth after Drake (202), Taylor Swift (138), Lil Wayne (88), and Elvis Presley (81).
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Tate Kobang and Lourdiz achieved their first Hot 100 successes as a result of their featured performances on the album.
Pink Friday 2 features prominent samples on nine of its 22 tracks, including Billie Eilish’s “When the Party’s Over,” a No. 29 hit in 2019, via “Are You Gone Already,” and Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” (No. 2, 1984; “Pink Friday Girls”). Other samples include “Notorious Thugs” by Notorious B.I.G. and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (on “Barbie Dangerous”) and “Move Your Feet” by Junior Senior (on “Everybody”).
