LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – Rapper Nicki Minaj shot straight to the top of the Billboard 200 album chart yesterday with her sophomore album “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded,” usurping the crown from Madonna, who suffered the biggest second week sales drop in chart history.
Sales for Madonna’s 12th studio album “MDNA” fell a staggering 86.7 percent to just 48,000 copies sold this week, dropping from No. 1 to No. 8 on the chart.
The percentage drop in “MDNA” sales trumps Lady Gaga’s 2011 album “Born This Way,” which fell from 1.1 million copies in its opening week to 174,000 in week two, an 84 percent decline.
“Roman Reloaded” is Minaj’s second album to top the chart, selling 253,000 copies in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan, despite receiving poor reviews from critics.
