Nicki Minaj 'Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, The Re-Up' Sales Low, Blames Walmart and Target for 'Not Giving it a Chance'
Hoping that the holiday shopping season may draw attention to Nicki Minaj's rerelease of her April, 2012 hit album "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded" (now deemed "The Re-Up"), the "Starship" songstress had the record (which now includes eight new songs) hit shelves Nov. 19. Even so, first week sales were rather low and below-par - and who did Minaj ultimately place the blame on for the less-than-stellar sale numbers? The big-names over at Walmart and Target, of course! According to the Young/Cash Money songstress, if the multinational retail corporations had just given the album more of a hopeful chance, sales probably would have gotten off to a much better start. Is it true, Mstarz readers - did fans not purchase "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, The Re-Up" because the album was just too hard to find on sale in stores throughout shopping on Black Friday?
Definite first-week sale numbers for the rerelease of "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded" (which also includes a DVD with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage) still won't be available for another few days, but early indications that it didn't sell so well had Minaj fuming against Walmart and Target. In a recent interview with the popular radio station Power 105.1, Minaj insists - "It is hard to get the album because the stores basically said that the last few re-releases they had put out did not do well and they didn't want to take a chance. So, Target and Walmart is not selling the album. Target is actually my biggest retailer -- they've always been my biggest retailer. They've sold the most Nicki Minaj albums ever, so, thank you, Target. But I wish you could've sold this one."
The "Pound the Alarm" songstress then went on to diss Best Buy, claiming that the popular electronics store "only took limited [quantities] because they're like, 'Oh we don't know, we want to play it safe'... So it's very difficult and it kind of sets you up to fail." She goes on to explain that many of her loyal fans "have been driving hours - literally hours! - to get one CD. But it is what it is, and I appreciate the support, and I'm excited about the music."
Even so, Minaj insists that "At the end of the day, I was happy I was able to put the music out."
FYI - "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded" debuted at number one on Billboard and managed to sell 253,000 copies in the album's first week.