Nicki Minaj has a turkey on her hands and it’s not even Thanksgiving.
Nicki’s new album, “Queen” is a sales dud. It’s so bad that she’s cancelled the tour that was supposed to accompany the album’s release, postponing it until next May. By then she’ll have to have new music or a new marketing plan because “Queen” will be long gone.
There’s some thought that Nicki jinxed herself by calling her album “Queen.” There was only Queen, and that was Aretha Franklin. In a very damning coincidence, Franklin passed away as the “Queen” album was being released. Talk about cosmic interference!
The “Queen” album debuted at number 2 last Friday. This week it will be lucky to make number 3 as Ariana Grande swoops in for the kill. With 24 hours left to this week, Grande’s “Sweetener” has already sold 133K copies including downloads, CDs, and streaming. Minaj has a total of 50,000. Travis Scott is running just ahead of Nicki at number 2.
Rap and hip hop is extremely dependent right now streaming numbers. Nicki’s album has not been enthusiastically embraced track by track. One single is number 2 on Spotify. Grande, however, has several in the top 50.
One radio insider told me, “Nicki’s album release was rushed. She didn’t work the stations until the last minute. We were surprised. That’s as opposed to Janet Jackson, who worked radio very carefully for her new hit, Made for Now, and she really scored.”
