When Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass” moved to the #3 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart last week, it did more than move bodies. Minaj is now the highest-charting female emcee since Missy Elliot held the title in 2002 with “Work It.” Other ladies who have cracked the top ten are M.I.A., Lil Mama, Lauryn Hill, Da Brat and Neneh Cherry. Hill is the only one of the group to occupy the #1 spot of the chart—which tracks all genres—with 1998’s “Doo Wop (That Thing).”
“Nicki isn’t like any other female rapper,” Cash Money co-founder and co-CEO Ronald “Slim” Williams told Billboard. “We knew she had the goods when Lil Wayne signed her. She’s not a female rapper—she’s a pop star who happens to rap.”
The song, which is a bonus track on Minaj’s Pink Friday, first cracked the chart in May. It has been downloaded 1.91 million times this year.

(Photo: Cash Money Records Inc)