Nicki Minaj blamed Spotify for her album not reaching No. 1, but Spotify dismissed it

Nicki
Minaj.
Mike Coppola/Getty Images for
Clear Channel

• Nicki Minaj blamed Spotify in a series of tweets on
  Sunday for making her album, “Queen,” come up short of topping
  the Billboard 200 album chart last week. 
• A Spotify representative on Monday countered Minaj’s
  claims that the streaming service had penalized her album’s
  promotion on its platform. 
• Minaj also called out Travis Scott, whose album
  “Astroworld” beat out “Queen” to top the chart, for selling a
  tour bundle that she said skewed the sales numbers in his
  favor. 

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In a series of tweets on Sunday, Nicki Minaj alternately blamed
Spotify and Travis Scott (and Kylie Jenner) for making her new
album, “Queen,” come up short of topping the Billboard 200 album
chart last week.

Minaj’s “Queen” debuted at No. 2 on the chart
after earning 185,000 equivalent album units, losing
out to Scott’s “Astroworld,” which brought in 205,000
equivalent album units and topped the Billboard chart for

a second consecutive week.

A Spotify representative on Monday countered Minaj’s claims that
the streaming service had penalized her album’s promotion on its
platform. 

“Spotify supported Nicki
Minaj with a Times Square billboard, a host of the
largest playlists, New Music Friday and the new music release
shelf,” the Spotify rep told Variety. “Her song ‘Bed’ actually
saw an increase based on the promotions put behind the campaign.
The company continues to be big fans of Nicki.”

On Sunday, Minaj wrote in a series of tweets that Spotify
“took away [her] promotion” for “Queen” after she played the
album prior to its release on her Apple Music radio show, “Queen
Radio.” 

Minaj also blamed Scott and his girlfriend, Kylie Jenner, for
promoting a tour bundle that she said sold over 50,000 copies of
“Astroworld” without a requirement for fans to redeem the album.

Scott and Jenner have not yet responded to Minaj’s tweets.