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BX Native Cardi B's "Bodak Yellow" Tops Billboard 100

Cardi B becomes the first female solo rapper to chart number #1 on Billboard's Top 100.

From making "money moves" to making music history, Bronx-born Cardi B's "Bodak Yellow" is now the number one song in the country. She beat out Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do" on the Billboard's Top 100, and in the process, has become the first solo female rapper to top the charts since Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop" took the spot in 1998.

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Billboard uses three metrics to calculate rank: streaming, radio airplay and sales data. Gary Trust, Billboard's Co-Director of Charts, told WNYC in an e-mail: "For recent No. 1 hits on the Hot 100, totals have shown, for certain songs, more than 50 million U.S. streams, 150 million in radio audience and more than 75,000 downloads sold (according to our data partner, Nielsen Music). Not all songs show such a ratio, as some are driven by certain metrics more than others."

Deemed the song of the summer, "Bodak Yellow" has been the number one song on Billboard's Rap chart for six weeks. The rise to number one on the overall Top 100 list comes as chart-watchers and celebrities alike created buzz to stream, air and buy the song.

"Cardi B had to earn her way to the top," said Chris Molanphy, a music chart analyst who wrote about Cardi B for New York Magazine's Vulture blog and spoke to WNYC's Jami Floyd. "She got all the way up to number two as of a week ago. The suspenseful thing was, could it go that last mile?"

[Click on LISTEN for WNYC's interview with Molanphy]

Cardi B is a 24-year-old Bronx native who came to fame on VH1's "Love and Hip-Hop," showcasing herself as a former stripper turned rapper hustling in the music industry. She also landed a role on BET's "Being Mary Jane" starring Gabrielle Union.

"She's literally been rapping for less than two years. And now here we are in 2017 and she's got a number one hit," says Molanphy. 

With that hit, Cardi B joins a small group of women. Since "Doo Wop," there have only been five solo songs by female rappers to make it to Top 10 in the Billboard 100.

  • M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" - peaked at #4 in 2008
  • Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass" - peaked at #3 in 2011
  • Nicki Minaj's "Starships" - peaked at #5 in 2012
  • Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda" - peaked at #2 in 2014
  • Cardi B's "Bodak Yellow" - #1 now

 Nicki Minaj tweeted Monday afternoon to congratulate Cardi B.