Nicki Minaj blamed Spotify for her album not reaching No. 1, but the streaming giant dismissed her claims
- Nicki Minaj blamed Spotify in a series of tweets on Sunday for making her album, "Queen," come up short of topping the Billboard 200 album chart last week.
- A Spotify representative on Monday countered Minaj's claims that the streaming service had penalized her album's promotion on its platform.
- Minaj also called out Travis Scott, whose album "Astroworld" beat out "Queen" to top the chart, for selling a tour bundle that she said skewed the sales numbers in his favor.
In a series of tweets on Sunday, Nicki Minaj alternately blamed Spotify and Travis Scott (and Kylie Jenner) for making her new album, "Queen," come up short of topping the Billboard 200 album chart last week.
Minaj's "Queen" debuted at No. 2 on the chart after earning 185,000 equivalent album units, losing out to Scott's "Astroworld," which brought in 205,000 equivalent album units and topped the Billboard chart for a second consecutive week.
A Spotify representative on Monday countered Minaj's claims that the streaming service had penalized her album's promotion on its platform.
"Spotify supported Nicki Minaj with a Times Square billboard, a host of the largest playlists, New Music Friday and the new music release shelf," the Spotify rep told Variety. "Her song 'Bed' actually saw an increase based on the promotions put behind the campaign. The company continues to be big fans of Nicki."
On Sunday, Minaj wrote in a series of tweets that Spotify "took away [her] promotion" for "Queen" after she played the album prior to its release on her Apple Music radio show, "Queen Radio."
Minaj also blamed Scott and his girlfriend, Kylie Jenner, for promoting a tour bundle that she said sold over 50,000 copies of "Astroworld" without a requirement for fans to redeem the album.
Scott and Jenner have not yet responded to Minaj's tweets.