Cardi B’s “Up” Becomes Hot 100 Chart’s Highest-Debuting Solo Female Rap Song Since 1998

“This is Pop girl sh*t but I’m not Pop.”

Belcalis “Cardi B” Almánzar scored yet another Top 10 hit this week. The New York City-bred rapper’s “Up” opened at #2 on Billboard’s current Hot 100 chart, giving the Atlantic recording artist her 9th record to make it into the Top 10 region.

“Up” is the highest-debuting solo single by a female rapper since Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing)” premiered atop the Hot 100 in 1998. The two Grammy winners have more in common when it comes to Billboard charts. Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy and Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill are also on a shortlist of female rap albums that launched at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Cardi already holds the female-rapper record for most career #1 songs with four – “Bodak Yellow,” “I Like It” featuring Bad Bunny and J Balvin, “Girls Like You” with Maroon 5, and “WAP” with Megan Thee Stallion. She was the first woman in rap to have multiple Number Ones and still the only one to have more than two chart-toppers.

Besides cracking the Top 3 on the Hot 100, the former Love & Hip Hop star’s latest release also hit #1 on the Streaming Songs (31.2 million streams), Digital Song Sales, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and Hot Rap Songs charts. Over on Billboard‘s Global 200 chart, “Up” starts off at #4. 

“Just landed and my wifi back poppin. I want to say thank you to all my fans and supporters this is BIG for me. I wanted to beat my last solo single number and I over succeeded. First time a female rapper debut top 5 since [Lauryn Hill]. This is Pop girl s### but I’m not Pop,” tweeted Cardi on Monday evening.

The 28-year-old entertainer later added, “At the beginning of last week I was crying because one single post put my confidence down. ‘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 and now boom. Chart too high.”

https://twitter.com/iamcardib/status/1361861379095891969?s=20