After all of the frenzy leading up Nicki Minaj's full-length release, the much-anticipated debut landed a plum #2 spot on the Billboard albums chart. So how does she feel now?
"I feel this weird calm feeling," the Queens lyricist told MTV News by phone on Wednesday (December 1).
The rapper moved 375,000 copies of Pink Friday — bested only by the 496,000 copies Kanye West's My Dark Beautiful Twisted Fantasy sold — making her the first female MC in more than a decade to debut with that kind of tally. (Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill sold 423,000 in its first week.)
"I'm just so grateful and kind of still in shock. These numbers haven't been put up since 1998," she continued, referring to Hill's debut. It just makes me feel proud of my team, proud of my fans, everyone who has had something to do with my dreams. Finally, we are seeing this dream come to fruition. It feels incredible."
Off the strength of her rapidly growing fanbase of Barbies and Ken Barbs, Minaj earned a larger first-week sales mark than recent projects by notable stars like Rihanna and Ne-Yo.
Up next, the Lil Wayne protégé will shoot videos for Pink Friday's "Moment 4 Life" featuring Drake and "Save Me"; at the top of the year, she'll shoot clips for "Fly" featuring Rihanna and "Girls Fall Like Dominos."
"Now I can promote the body of work," Nicki said of her album. "I feel like I gave birth to my baby, now I'm gonna teach it how to walk and how to talk and spoil the baby."
This is definitely going Platinum.
