Nicki Minaj’s ‘Pink Friday 2’ Album Debuts At No. 1 On Billboard 200
Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday 2 album has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, giving her the most chart-topping albums for a female artist in Hip-Hop history.
On the chart dated Dec. 23, Pink Friday 2 reached the top of the Billboard 200 with 228,000 equivalent album units sold in the U.S., marking her first No. 1 album in over a decade and her third overall. She last had an album reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with her sophomore album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded in 2012, with her debut album, Pink Friday, giving the Queens native her first chart-topper of her career the year prior.
Pink Friday 2 also broke records for a female rap artist, accounting for the largest first week sales by a woman this decade. Of the 228,000 units Pink Friday 2 sold, 129,000 were from SEA units generated from 169.87 million on-demand official streams, while 92,000 were from pure album sales and 7,000 TEA units. In addition, Pink Friday 2 sold 25,000 vinyl copies, the most for a rap album by a woman since vinyl sales were began being tracked in 1991.
Prior to the release of Pink Friday 2, Minaj was tied with Foxy Brown for the most No. 1 albums by a female artists with two, as Foxy’s first two albums, 1996’s Ill Na Na and 1999’s Chyna Doll both reached the Billboard 200 summit. The hitmaker also becomes the first female rap artist to release a No. 1 album in multiple decades.
Pink Friday 2 was led by multiple hit singles from Minaj, with “Super Freaky Girl” reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” peaking at No. 13 on the chart, and “Last Time I Saw You” topping out at No. 23. In addition to her three No. 1 albums, Nicki has multiple albums that fell just short of the top spot. The Pinkprint, Queen, and Beam Me Up Scotty each landed at No. 2 on the chart during their opening weeks.
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