Cardi B’s second album, Am I The Drama?, has avoided the dreaded “sophomore slump.” Like its predecessor, her 2018 debut, Invasion Of Privacy, Am I The Drama? finished its first week at the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart, with 200,000 equivalent album units earned.
Cardi was rightfully ecstatic about the achievement, which makes her the first female rapper in history with back-to-back No. 1 albums to start her career. On Twitter (never calling it “X”), she posted a short compilation video of behind-the-scenes clips from the album’s creation and her family time with her kids. In the caption, she joked about celebrating without one key ingredient, writing:
Thank you sooo much everybody that supported my album!! Two weeks ago the album was projected to do 115k off of “Outside” and “Imaginary Players“.. I didn’t know what the outcome was gonna be I didn’t put out a album in 7 years and haven’t put out as much music in the last year but we just surpassed all that expectation… Thank you to everyone who gave the album a listen, did a video to the songs and everything!! You don’t know the confidence and boost you gave me in my music to keep pushing.. I can’t wait to see you guys on tour. Tonight we celebrate!!! I can’t pop no champagne… but maybe I can open up some cranberry juice or something!
Unfortunately, Cardi B won’t be able to toast her accomplishment, as she’s pregnant with her fourth child, with NFL star Stefon Diggs. She revealed the pregnancy just a few days before releasing the album, and after announcing the dates for its accompanying tour.
The Bronx rapper had previously admitted that the album took so long to finish because she worried about the response, but it looks like she had nothing to worry about. In comparison to Invasion Of Privacy‘s first-week numbers, Am I The Drama? took a dip, but that was to be expected: While Cardi’s first album was buoyed by the insane response to her breakout hit “Bodak Yellow,” neither “Outside” nor “Imaginary Playerz” was as commercially successful; “WAP” and “Up” did not count toward the album’s streaming totals, or that 200,000 would have been more like 400 or 500K.