Cardi B Debuts at No. 1 With ‘Invasion of Privacy’

Cardi B joins Eve, Foxy Brown, Nicki Minaj, and Lauryn Hill as the only female rappers to top the Billboard 200.

On April 6, Cardi B released her debut album, Invasion of Privacy. After a whirlwind press tour that included co-hosting The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and performing on Saturday Night Live, the first week totals are in. According to BillboardInvasion of Privacy has pushed 255,000 equivalent album units in its first week, making it the No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. The total is also the second-biggest week of 2018 behind Justin Timberlake's Man of the Woods (293,000 units).

Cardi’s dominance manifested itself in the streaming world as well, with Invasion of Privacy garnering 100 million streams worldwide in a week. That figure allowed Cardi B to eclipse Taylor Swift’s Apple Music record for the most worldwide streams of an album by a woman in its first week, although the accomplishment comes under different circumstances.

“Since Swift’s album was not available on streaming services for its first three weeks of release, the comparison is not quite an equal one — Swift’s album sold 1.216 million copies in its first week, according to Nielsen Music,” a Variety report noted.

Cardi B now joins Eve, Foxy Brown, Nicki Minaj, and Lauryn Hill as the only women rappers to top the Billboard 200. Nicki is the only member of that group to do so more than once.

And that's not all. Invasion of Privacy also bagged the largest streaming week for a debut album (taking the distinction from previous record-holder Lil Uzi Vert), the seventh-largest streaming week in Billboard history, and the biggest sales week of the year for an R&B or hip-hop release.

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