Rise of an empire: Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj’s latest albums have both gone platinum

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images via ABCCongratulations are in order for Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj, who’ve both added two more sales plaques to their already extensive collections.

Both Wayne’s Tha Carter V and Minaj’s Queen, released in August and September respectively, were certified platinum by the RIAA on January 11 for sales of one million units. The Young Money cohorts’ oft-delayed, highly-anticipated projects dominated the charts in 2018 as well as much of the conversation on social media. 

Weezy’s 12th studio album premiered at number one on the Billboard 200 chart and sold a lofty 480,000 units in its first week.  That was the third-biggest sales week for an album in 2018, and the whopping 433 million streams it accrued made for the second-biggest streaming week ever for an album. 

As for the Head Barb, her Queen LP debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with a total of 185,000 units sold. The project was certified gold by the RIAA less than a month after its release. 

In addition, Nicki is a million units shy of becoming the first female rapper to sell 100 million units over the course of her career.

Copyright © 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.