Nicki Minaj isn’t happy that Travis Scott’s album Astroworld spent another week sitting at No. 1, with her own album, Queen, debuting at No. 2. In a series of tweets, the rapper called out Scott for selling “season pass” bundles for his upcoming tour and implied Spotify wasn’t marketing her album enough.
Astroworld sold 205,000 equivalent units, with 78,000 from traditional sales, Billboard reports. Queen sold 185,000 units — 78,000 from traditional sales.
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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
— QUEEN (@NICKIMINAJ) August 19, 2018
“Travis sold over 50K of these,” Minaj wrote of the “season pass” bundles for Scott’s Astroworld tour. “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.”
She even implied that his girlfriend Kylie Jenner had to do with the high album sales. “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,” she wrote, referring to Scott and Jenner’s 6-month-old daughter. “Im actually laughing. #Queen broke the record of being number 1 in 86 countries. Thank Jesus & thank you to my fans.”
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.
— QUEEN (@NICKIMINAJ) August 19, 2018
Last week, when Scott announced the tour, Jenner revealed on Instagram that she and Stormi would be joining him on the trek. Alongside a photo of the tour’s official graphic, Jenner wrote, “Me and storm ready for tour.”
Astroworld was the first album to take over the top spot after Darke’s Scorpion spent five weeks straight in that position after debuting there earlier this summer. This week, Scorpion fell to No. 3.
Minaj, who will perform at Monday’s 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, also called out Spotfiy for their campaign promoting Drake’s Scorpion and claimed she was being punished for debuting her album during her radio show. “Spotify had to teach me a lesson but rewarded the man who has had an Apple radio show the longest; inadvertently helping the Apple platform the most,” she wrote.
Spotify had to teach me a lesson but rewarded the man who has had an Apple radio show the longest; inadvertently helping the Apple platform the most. Oh I can’t wait for #QueenRadio on Tuesday. They took away my promotion they had promised for the 1st cpl days b/c of this. #Queen
— QUEEN (@NICKIMINAJ) August 19, 2018
“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,” she continued.
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.
— QUEEN (@NICKIMINAJ) August 19, 2018
“My label didn’t want to defend me for fear of Spotify trying to teach Ariana a ‘lesson’ too,” she wrote, referencing Ariana Grande, who is featured on Queen and who also released an album last week.
My label didn’t want to defend me for fear of Spotify trying to teach Ariana a “lesson” too! //t.co/1dAdbcbWVd
— QUEEN (@NICKIMINAJ) August 19, 2018
Later, Minaj called her tweets about album sales “sarcasm/dry humor.”
People are calling me thinking I’m huffing & puffing. Omg y’all this is sarcasm/dry humor. Yikes. I’m having the most iconNIC time. Come let me kiss you. 😩😘😘😘 Who’s coming to the secret show? When people call me & hear me crackin up laughing they seem so puzzled. Loosen up 😅
— QUEEN (@NICKIMINAJ) August 19, 2018
“People are calling me thinking I’m huffing & puffing. Omg y’all this is sarcasm/dry humor. Yikes. I’m having the most icoNIC time,” she wrote. “Loosen up.”