Nicki Minaj’s Queen Radio: Volume 1 returns to both the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart as “Beauty and a Beat” rises globally. INGLEWOOD, CA – AUGUST 27: Nicki Minaj attends the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards at The Forum on August 27, 2017 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
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Throughout her career, Nicki Minaj has sent seven projects to the Billboard 200 ranking, the most important and all-encompassing albums tally in the United States. That group consists almost entirely of traditional studio albums, along with a mixtape or two and one greatest hits compilation.
Queen Radio: Volume 1 arrived in September 2022 and immediately brought the rapper back to the top 10. This week, that collection reenters the roster and also returns to another Billboard albums chart, while one of Minaj’s biggest collaborations becomes a streaming hit again.
Nicki Minaj Returns to the Billboard 200
Queen Radio: Volume 1 reenters the Billboard 200 ranking at No. 164. According to Luminate, the compilation moved nearly 10,300 equivalent album units during the most recent tracking frame. Only a few dozen of those units came from actual purchases. Streams of Minaj’s many hit songs power the vast majority of the collection’s total and send it back to the ranking for a sixty-third week.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 12: Nicki Minaj attends the Marc Jacobs Fall 2020 runway show during New York Fashion Week on February 12, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Marc Jacobs)
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Nicki Minaj’s Compilation Once Climbed Into the Top 10
The hits project peaked at No. 10, where it launched several years back. While Queen Radio: Volume 1 ranks as Minaj’s lowest-peaking collection on the Billboard 200, that distinction is actually an impressive one, as it means she has never failed to push even one of her charting efforts into the loftiest region.
Nicki Minaj Barely Returns to the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart
At the same time that it lifts back onto the Billboard 200, Queen Radio: Volume 1 also finds its way back to the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The genre-specific roster features only 50 spaces, and Minaj’s compilation narrowly returns to the tally at No. 48. The set once rose to No. 6, and it is counted among the Grammy nominee’s top 10 wins.
Only one other Minaj-associated project has peaked lower on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart than Queen Radio: Volume 1. Sucka Free, which is credited to Young Money, Lil Wayne and Minaj, spent one frame on the tally at No. 95 – a position that no longer exists – back in July 2010 and has never been seen since.
Rappers Nicki Minaj (Onika Maraj) and Lil Wayne (Dwayne Carter Jr.) perform at WHTA’s Birthday Bash at Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on June 17, 2017. (Photo by Julia Beverly/Getty Images)
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Nicki Minaj’s Compilation Has Outlasted Two of Her No. 1 Albums
While Queen Radio: Volume 1 may be Minaj’s lowest-peaking release on the Billboard 200 ranking, it is also one of her longest-charting. The Pinkprint remains her most durable project, with 124 weeks on the tally. Pink Friday follows with 77, while Queen Radio: Volume 1 is now up to 63 frames as it returns.
The compilation has already outpaced titles like Pink Friday 2 and Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. Both of those studio albums reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, but neither has yet managed to spend a full year on the roster.
Nicki Minaj Returns With Justin Bieber
Minaj also manages a comeback with only one single, on the all-genre Streaming Songs chart. “Beauty and a Beat,” her collaboration with Justin Bieber, returns to the ranking at No. 47.
The single has now spent a landmark 30 weeks on the list of the most-streamed tunes in the U.S., and it topped out in fifth place. “Beauty and a Beat” was the beneficiary of a viral bump after Bieber performed it during his Coachella headlining sets earlier this year, and it’s remained a smash ever since.
Nicki Minaj Climbs on Two Global Charts
“Beauty and a Beat” also lives inside the top 10 on both of Billboard’s worldwide songs rankings. The collaboration gains ground on the two tallies this week.
The Bieber and Minaj smash rises to Nos. 4 and 6 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. and Billboard Global 200, respectively. It sat at Nos. 5 and 8 on those two tallies only one frame ago.