Cardi B has scored the highest Billboard debut for a solo female rap song since Lauryn Hill went to Number One in 1998.
The rapper released her latest single ‘Up’ earlier this month (February 5), following last year’s mega hit ‘WAP’. It is currently sitting at Number Five in the US charts.
Sharing a graphic of the latest Billboard Hot 100 top 10, Cardi thanked her fans for supporting the track. “This is BIG for me,” she wrote. “I wanted to beat my last solo single number & I over succeeded. First time a female rapper debut top 5 since Lauren. This is pop girl shit, but I’m not pop.”
She went on to say she had been affected by negative comments on social media recently, but getting the chart news had boosted her confidence again. “At the beginning of last week, I was crying because one single post put my confidence down,” she explained.
“‘She needs promo, she’s a flop, she needs help’ — erasing the fact I been constantly winning. I had to brush it off, remind myself I beat records with my last record & now boom. Chart too high.”
Before ‘Up’, Hill’s ‘Doo Wop (That Thing)’ was the last solo female rap song to debut in the top five, going in at Number One in November 1998. According to Chart Data, the new track is Cardi’s ninth top 10 single on the Hot 100 chart and the second-biggest debut of 2021 so far.
Speaking to Zane Lowe recently, Cardi revealed ‘Up’ took inspiration from the Chicago drill scene. It’s not yet clear whether the track will feature on her upcoming new album, but the rapper revealed she has “like 50 songs” recorded for the ‘Invasion Of Privacy’ follow-up. The record, which is yet to be announced, will document her recent experiences on social media, among other things.
