Nicki Minaj Scores 70th Hot 100 Hit, Second-Most Among Women, With 'Black Barbies'
12/14/2016 by Gary Trust
Nicki Minaj performs onstage during the 2016 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on Nov. 20, 2016 in Los Angeles.
Minaj passes Taylor Swift and nears Aretha Franklin's total of 73.
As previously reported, Rae Sremmurd leads the Billboard Hot 100 (dated Dec. 24) for a fifth week with "Black Beatles," featuring Gucci Mane. Plus, Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello's "Bad Things" bounds into the top 10, soaring 17-10, and Rihanna's "Love on the Brain" becomes her 40th top 20 Hot 100 hit.
Meanwhile, Nicki Minaj notches her 70th Hot 100 entry with a No. 65 debut (the chart's highest of the week) for "Black Barbies." The track is Minaj's reworking of "Black Beatles"; the songs share the same writers, Khalif "Swae Lee" and Aaquil "Slim Jxmmi" Brown, Gucci Mane and Mike WiLL Made-It, with the addition of Minaj on "Barbies."
"Barbies" was originally made available in an unfinished version on SoundCloud on Nov. 15; once finalized, it was released commercially Nov. 30.
With the song's Hot 100 arrival, Minaj passes Taylor Swift and now trails only Aretha Franklin (73) for the second-most visits to the chart among women. Here is an updated count, dating to the Hot 100's Aug. 4, 1958, inception:
Women With the Most Hot 100 Hits
73, Aretha Franklin
70, Nicki Minaj
69, Taylor Swift
57, Madonna
57, Rihanna
56, Dionne Warwick
53, Beyonce
53, Connie Francis
48, Brenda Lee
47, Mariah Carey
43, Miley Cyrus
41, Barbra Streisand
40, Mary J. Blige
40, Janet Jackson
40, Diana Ross
Notably, Minaj has been credited as a lead artist on 27 of her Hot 100 entries, or 39 percent. Franklin has been the lead on all 73 of hers (with much of her career predating years in which featured billings became common). Among all acts, the cast of Fox's Glee leads with 207 Hot 100 entries, followed by Lil Wayne (132) and Drake (131). Franklin is in 10th place among all acts and Minaj is 12th.
Swift, meanwhile, should move back into a tie with Minaj on next week's Hot 100 (dated Dec. 31), as her expected 70th charted title, "I Don't Wanna Live Forever," with Zayn (for the movie Fifty Shades Darker), looks likely to make a lofty debut following its first full week of sales, streaming and airplay tracking; the collab is new on the Dec. 24 Pop Songs airplay chart based on its first three days of airplay (Dec. 9-11).