First the good news. The Pinkprint sold 201,000 copies in its first week, giving Nicki Minaj's third album the second biggest Hip Hop opening of the year to J. Cole's 2014 Forest Hills Drive.
Now the bad news. The album was crushed by Taylor Swift, whose 1989 moved 331,000 units in its eighth week, and was nicked by Pentatonix's seasonal album That's Christmas To Me, which did 203,000.
There is also an argument that given Minaj's high profile and what appeared to be a pretty enormous marketing budget for the project, doing 200,100 should be considered a flop. Especially when Minaj's 2010 album Pink Friday debuted with 375,000 and 2012's Roman Reloaded moved 253,000. We're not so sure about that; the environment for Hip Hop albums has taken a brutal turn in 2014. However, it should be noted that J. Cole was able to move about 350,000 in his first week with little promotion.
Back to this week's charts: 2014 Forest Hills Drive did 110,000 in its second week, and D'Angelo's surprise comeback Black Messiah debuted with 104,000.
Have you heard The Pinkprint. If so, did you like it?