With her most recent single, "Super Freaky Girl," Nicki Minaj became the first solo female rapper in nearly 25 years to debut at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100.

With her first solo track in more than two years, Minaj accomplished two significant feats: first, it became her first number-one hit as a lead artist. The rapper, who has three songs to her credit, topped the Hot 100 twice in 2020, first with Doja Cat on their joint "Say So" remix and then with her collaboration with 6ix9ine, "Trollz" (notably, the latter experienced the largest-ever chart fall for a number one debut).

According to Billboard, "Super Freaky Girl" – which samples heavily from Rick James’ 1981 hit "Super Freak" – racked up a total of 12.1 million streams, 4.6 million impressions via live radio tune-ins, and 89,000 downloads in the first week of its release. The song itself arrived on August 12 after being announced by Minaj a month earlier.

The last solo female rapper to debut at Number One on the Hot 100 was Fugees member Lauryn Hill, who did so in 1998 with ‘Doo Wop (That Thing),' the lead single from her first (and currently only) solo album, ‘The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill’.