Cardi B is at it again when it comes to making it big in the industry. Earlier this week, her hit single ‘Bodak Yellow’ hit the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
“Bodak Yellow,” the pure cut swagger of a rap anthem has taken over the No. 1 spot, displacing Swift’s pop song ‘Look What You Made Me Do’, placing Cardi as the first solo female rapper to do so since Lauryn Hill, almost 20 years ago.
The way Billboard calculates its Hot 100 rankings comes down to Nielsen’s measurements of streaming plays, sales, and of course, radio play.
“Bodak Yellow” exploded in all three areas almost immediately; in just the past week, Billboard reported that the song’s streaming plays increased by 14 percent. As a result, 11 weeks later, “Bodak Yellow” has knocked Swift out of the top spot.
Cardi B is the fifth female rapper to ever lead the Hot 100. After Hill, Lil’ Kim ruled for five weeks in 2001 with Christina Aguilera, Mya and P!nk on “Lady Marmalade”; Shawnna reigned as a featured artist on Ludacris’ “Stand Up,” which topped the Dec. 6, 2003, chart; and Iggy Azalea’s introductory Hot 100 hit, “Fancy” featuring Charli XCX, led for seven weeks in 2014.
As if topping the charts with her debut single wasn’t enough, Cardi wasn’t the only one excited for her accomplishments. Taylor Swift congratulated Cardi personally by sending her flowers on that very day.
Filled with ecstasy, Cardi B has also received acknowledgments from some of the biggest names in rap, many of whom the 24-year-old grew up listening to. Though Cardi B hasn’t been congratulated by every single female rapper, the queens of female rap’s golden age, Lil’ Kim and Missy Elliot, have already tweeted their congrats at the new star.
Reigning queen, Nicki Minaj, and rap mainstay, Trina, have also warmly congratulated Cardi B, though we are yet to hear from the combative Remy Ma, who back in July came out swinging at Cardi B over a diss-tweet that turned out to be a hack. Azealia Banks was one of the rappers that did not congratulate her, but tried to diss her via twitter. Cardi of course clapped back with a video of Banks dancing and singing her heart out to “Bodak Yellow” in the club with a caption saying, “One of the reasons Bodak Yellow went #1 cuz even the HATERS LOVE IT!!.” This post made Azealia Banks delete all of her social media accounts and no one has heard from her since.
The music industry is infamous for its beefs and rivalries. This is why people loved the way Cardi was praised for this accomplishment. It’s encouraging to see what an empowering and supportive space female rap can be. The music industry has always generally struggled to recognize multiple female rappers at once to be on top, but this wasn’t the case for Cardi B.
Cardi B Reaches #1 on the Top 100
