Things are currently going OWWF on Twitter right now, with Nicki Minaj calling out Travis Scott, Kylie Jenner, Spotify and Billboard in the fight for the number 1 spot on the Billboard charts this week.
Billboard released an official statement announcing that Scott’s Astroworld had nabbed the top spot for the second week running, meaning Minaj’s Queen was to debut at number 2. Following this, Minaj vented her feelings about coming in second-best, blaming Kylie Jenner’s promotion, Billboard’s supposedly-archaic sales system and Spotify’s low-key blackballing in the process.
Referencing Jenner’s Instagram below, Minaj claimed Astroworld remained atop the charts due to the album being included in merch, album bundles and ‘tour passes’ boosted by Jenner’s promotion, despite no current dates for the tour being released. “I put my blood sweat & tears in writing a dope album,” she tweeted, “only for Travis Scott to have Kylie Jenner post a tour pass telling people to come see her & Stormi. lol. I’m actually laughing.”
“Travis sold over 50k of these. With no requirement of redeeming the album! With no dates for a tour, etc.”
Travis sold over 50K of these. With no requirement of redeeming the album! With no dates for a tour, etc. I spoke to him. He knows he doesn’t have the #1 album this week. I love my fans for the #1 album in AMERICA! I’ll explain on #QueenRadio 4 albums in, #1 in 86 countries ♥️ pic.twitter.com/CiYEuczgm3
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) August 19, 2018
I put my blood sweat & tears in writing a dope album only for Travis Scott to have Kylie Jenner post a tour pass telling ppl to come see her & Stormi. lol. Im actually laughing. #Queen broke the record of being number 1 in 86 countries. Thank Jesus & thank you to my fans.
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) August 19, 2018
Queen sold 185,000 equivalent album units this week, according to Billboard, with 78,000 in traditional album sales. This is the second-highest selling week by a female artist this year, following Cardi’s Invasion Of Privacy, which sold a whopping 255,000 units in its opening week.
Despite Queen‘s success, Minaj wasn’t happy with Scott’s monstrous merch sales contributing to Astroworld‘s chart success.
I looked at the numbers the Carters, Kanye, Nas, etc recently did. Travis sold 200K in his first week of clothes alone. I spoke to him last night & he said he’s been selling clothes b4 the music. Billboard says they’ll change the rules cuz of this, so it should be changed now!
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) August 19, 2018
She also well and truly dragged Spotify in the process. Apparently the streaming service wanted to teach Minaj a lesson for playing the album 10 minutes earlier that Spotify’s release on her own QueenRadio service. They took her promotion away for the first couple of days, and kept Drake on the cover of most playlists.
Spotify put drake’s face on every playlist but told me they’d have to teach me a lesson for playing my music 10 mins early on #QueenRadio. Even tho they’ve been giving away my music for free for years & I am one of the top Spotify artists of all time.
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) August 19, 2018
Despite this, the reigning Queen Of Rap insists she isn’t pressed: “Omg y’all this is sarcasm/dry humor. Yikes. I’m having the most iconNIC time. Come let me kiss you.”
Minaj does bring an interesting discussion to the forefront, nonetheless, in terms of what constitutes an actual album sale. Are the Billboards charts in need of some slight adjusting?
Either way, can we all scream at this seating arrangement for the VMA’s tomorrow? I can’t.
tomorrow will be a mess sbfnngkskcc pic.twitter.com/AYjmFGnZdm
— jãy (@iemonade) August 19, 2018
