Cardi B Lands 2nd Billboard 200 No. 1 Album With ‘Am I The Drama?’
Is it still too early to say the “B” in Cardi B stands for “Billboard 200“? Well, the 32-year-old artist made her case this week, as her latest album, Am I The Drama?, topped the long-running albums chart.
Billboard announced her achievement Monday (Sept. 29), confirming that Drama? moved 200,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, per Luminate. This means that the Bronx star is two-for-two when it comes to the albums within her catalog debuting atop the Billboard 200. Additionally, the “Safe” artist set the pace for women in 2025, as her new LP’s first week performance was the biggest across both Hip-Hop and R&B.
This accomplishment did not come without hard work before and after the release. The soon-to-be mother of four felt like she was everywhere, hosting meet and greets, doing creative social media promotion, and countless interviews. Cardi also delivered new tracks for fans to enjoy within the first week of Drama? releasing, including an “ErrTime” remix with Latto and the once-digital exclusive “Don’t Do Too Much.”
One of the prevailing narratives about Am I The Drama? is that its sales performance is carried by “WAP” and “Up,” records from 2020 and 2021, respectively, that have already been RIAA certified. However, due to charting rule changes, neither song’s numbers would count toward the album’s first-week sales. They did, however, ensure that the LP would be RIAA Platinum certified on its release day.
Drama? brought an over seven-year album hiatus for the hitmaker to a close. Her 2018 debut LP, Invasion Of Privacy, was monumental, as every song reached Platinum certification. It also earned her the Best Rap Album award at the 2019 Grammys. As the years passed and no new album dropped, fans believed Cardi was trying to evade the sophomore slump.
And yet, the 23-song album proved she was sharper than ever as an artist. The album features Janet Jackson, Selena Gomez, Lizzo, Summer Walker, and Tyla. “Safe” featuring Kehlani has emerged as the next single and came with an accompanying visual paying homage to TLC. Watch below.
Cardi reflected on the achievement with a long X post. “Thank you sooo much everybody that supported my album!!” she wrote on Sunday (Sept. 28). “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!!”
The outspoken artist revealed that her album’s performance gave her more “confidence” and “boost” to continue working hard for her fans. They will get to see the fruits of her labor when she hits the road for the Little Miss Drama Tour, her first-ever headlining road trip, from February 2026 to April 2026.