Nicki Minaj’s ‘Queen’ Is Headed For A Number 1 Debut
UPDATE: New sales projections suggest there will be a tight race to claim the #1 spot on the Billboard 200. It looks like Travis Scott may hold onto the top spot for a second week with expected sales of 155-165K for Astroworld. Nicki meanwhile is still expected to move between 145-155K copies of Queen. However, the “Barbie Tingz” rapper did experience a boost in pure sales. She is now up to 56-61K copies.
Nicki Minaj is expected to claim the top spot on the Billboard 200 with her fourth LP, Queen. Expectations were high for the 35-year-old’s new album on which she reasserts her dominance following a lengthy gap between projects. Buoyed by impressive streaming numbers, it looks like she will come out on top once again. Analysts at Hits Double Daily predict she will move a respectable 135-150K units within her first week. Of those, 45-55K will be pure album sales. Hopefully, that will be enough to dethrone Travis Scott’s Astroworld, which amassed an impressive 537K units in its first week. With 270K in pure sales, the rapper’s project is currently the second highest-selling debut of the year. He falls just behind Drake’s Scorpion, which moved 732K in one week.
At the time of publication, Queen is sitting at the top spot on US iTunes. Meanwhile, the controversial “Barbie Dreams” is at number 4 spot and “Majesty” (featuring one of Eminem’s quickest verses to date) is at number 12 on the songs charts. With more than 800K streams on Spotify in one day, “Barbie Dreams” also appeared on Spotify’s US Top 50 chart. Although it will be nice to see Nicki back on top, it is worth pointing out that her numbers are not quite as high as expected, particularly in terms of pure album sales. 2014’s The Pinkprint moved 244K in its first week (198 pure sales). These numbers are more on par with Cardi B’s Invasion Of Privacy, which did 255K (103K pure sales) when it dropped earlier this year. Christina Aguilera’s Liberation moved 62K in pure sales, which was enough to help her land within the Top 5 on the charts. Rumors of a potential delay in the release may have had a larger impact on album sales than initially expected.
However, the “Chun-Li” hitmaker is pulling out all the stops to ensure her numbers soar. Yesterday, she dropped a glamorous video for “Ganja Burn,” which is proving to be a highlight on the album. She also stopped by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. There she talked about the LP’s sexy cover and reflected on how various rappers responded to “Barbie Dreams.” She also freestyled a verse to add the late-night host to the track. With plans to take the stage at the 2018 VMAs August 20, she is also likely to keep her numbers high into her second week. Watch the hitmaker on Colbert below.
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