While the Barbz boasted the larger success of “Pink Friday 2,” Megan Thee Stallion fans championed this independent release.

Megan Thee Stallion finally came through with MEGAN, her long-awaited solo comeback since going independent, and it certainly made a splash. The album landed at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart with around 64K in first-week sales, which has caused a field day on social media thanks to the Houston femcee’s beef with Nicki Minaj, among other considerations. For one, Barbz were cackling at 64K considering that Pink Friday 2 sold almost four times that in its first week. On the other hand, music fans at large might not find these numbers as impressive, but albums sales just aren’t what they used to be across the board for most artists… well, unless you’re Taylor Swift, that is.

Regardless, Megan Thee Stallion fans are still pretty happy with these numbers, bringing up no big features and label issues from going independent, plus little radio play, as obstacles that should’ve resulted in even less than 64K. Also, in terms of visibility and social media conversation, Meg’s not going anywhere anytime soon and is working hard to cater to her hardcore fans. But Nicki Minaj already seemed to dismiss MEGAN‘s first-week sales, and comparison is the thief of joy. Maybe if they actually had a back-and-forth diss track showdown, fans could depend on this metric for their discussions.

Megan Thee Stallion’s MEGAN‘s First Week Sales

However, we also know that some factors jeopardized the legitimacy of MEGAN‘s numbers, and at least they caught it before first-week sales numbers hit. Spotify reportedly removed 30 million streams from Megan Thee Stallion’s albums numbers on the platform, allegedly due to these being bot streams. While we don’t actually know the reason why this change occurred, it still drew the ire and defense of many fans online. Especially considering Tina Snow’s blasting of bots on “HISS,” it’s not the best look, albeit one that she likely had nothing to do with.

Meanwhile, the “Otaku Hot Girl” femcee is living large these days, enjoying every last second of this MEGAN rollout amid all the chaos. It will be interesting to see what sticks around from this tracklist and if the album as a whole will continue to perform commercially. After all, no one’s doubting that Megan Thee Stallion could very well best these numbers with some big promos, headlines, or other supportive releases. So let’s see what happens, and what will be the next Billboard debut to debate.