Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday
Like Mac Miller, Nicki Minaj did what many thought was impossible when, in 2010, her Pink Friday album landed at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 375,000 copies. It was the first commercially successful album from a female emcee in more than half a decade, achieving the second highest debut week in female rap history, bested only by Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Though, technically, Miseducation was categorized as Hip-Hop/R&B, leaving Nicki with the biggest first-week sales from a female emcee in history, followed by Missy Elliott’s 2002 album, Under Construction, which moved 259,000 copies.
