Nicki Minaj Holds on to Leading Spot on the Charts

Nicki Minaj isn’t just the Princess of Young Money, the Queens talent is also the top hip-hop act on The Billboard Top 200 album chart.

While she slipped three spots from last week to No. 5, Minaj is still the highest selling rap artist for the second week in a row with 31,900 copies of her debut LP, Pink Friday, flying off the shelves over the last seven days. While the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) already certified the disc platinum, she has yet to officially move one million units. According to Nielsen SoundScan, PF sold 922,400 copies after 2 months on the charts.

Five spots down at No. 10 is Nicki’s “Monster” collaborator Kanye West. Yeezy’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was purchased 25.200 times this sales cycle, making his overall stats equal 940,600.

Eminem, who experienced a huge boost in sales over the holiday season, is making his way back down the charts as he slipped nine seats to No. 14. Fans still bagged up an additional 21,400 copies of Recovery this week, giving Em a 30-week total of 3,469,700.

Closing out the Top 40 is T.I. and Lil Wayne. Tip’s No Mercy fell to No. 24 this go-round, while Weezy’s I Am Not A Human Being tripped two slots to No. 27. The King of the South added about 14,800 CDs to his overall tally, which now sits at 367,400. Wayne scooped up around 12,200 customers, bringing his 16-week total to 691,900.

Be sure to check out XXLMag.com next Wednesday (January 26) to see if Nicki Minaj is finally able to surpass Kanye in sales. —Elan Mancini