Nicki Minaj has a big week on Billboard’s charts thanks to the arrival of her new LP, Pink Friday 2.
The set, released Dec. 8 via Young Money/Cash Money/Republic Records, debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (dated Dec. 23) with 228,000 equivalent album units earned in its opening week, according to Luminate. It’s the rapper’s third leader, after 2011’s Pink Friday and 2012’s Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.
As the new album opens at No. 1, Minaj also debuts 14 songs from the set on the Billboard Hot 100. Here’s a recap:
Hot 100 Rank, Title:
No. 26, “Everybody,” feat. Lil Uzi Vert
No. 34, “Needle,” feat. Drake
No. 42, “FTCU”
No. 58, “Barbie Dangerous”
No. 60, “Are You Gone Already”
No. 63, “Let Me Calm Down,” feat. J. Cole
No. 64, “Beep Beep”
No. 73, “Big Difference”
No. 74, “Fallin 4 U”
No. 80, “RNB,” feat. Lil Wayne & Tate Kobang
No. 82, “Pink Friday Girls”
No. 87, “Cowgirl,” feat. Lourdiz
No. 89, “Pink Birthday”
No. 95, “Bahm Bahm”
(Three other tracks on Pink Friday 2 previously charted on the Hot 100: “Super Freaky Girl,” which debuted atop the chart in August 2022, becoming Minaj’s third No. 1, and first in a lead role; “Red Ruby Da Sleeze,” which was No. 13, this March; and “Last Time I Saw You” at No. 23 in September.)
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 also lifts her career count to 73 top 40 Hot 100 hits, the fifth-most after Drake (202), Taylor Swift (138), Lil Wayne (88) and Elvis Presley (81).
Thanks to their featured appearances on the album, Tate Kobang and Lourdiz also score their first Hot 100 hits.
As Pink Friday 2 includes prominent samples on nine of its 22 tracks, several former Hot 100 hits are reintroduced to the chart in a new form, 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 B.I.G. and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s “Notorious Thugs” (on “Barbie Dangerous”), and Junior Senior’s “Move Your Feet” (on “Everybody”).
