The Recording Industry Association of America has certified ‘WAP’ Diamond, giving Cardi B her fourth such honor and moving her past Nicki Minaj in the all-time female rap rankings
Cardi B has become the female rapper with the most RIAA Diamond-certified songs in history, surpassing Nicki Minaj with her fourth Diamond plaque. The milestone arrived when “WAP,” her 2020 collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion, received the certification in early August 2026, nearly six years after its release. The Recording Industry Association of America awards Diamond status when a single or album reaches 10 million certified units in the United States.
A @DailyLoud post on X yesterday (August 30) announced the ranking change. The post included a side-by-side portrait of both artists and quickly accumulated tens of thousands of likes and reposts. The language was more loaded than a purely statistical announcement would be, framing the certification update as a transfer of a crown.
The Four Songs That Made History
Cardi B’s four Diamond-certified songs are “Bodak Yellow,” “I Like It” with Bad Bunny and J Balvin, “Girls Like You” with Maroon 5, and “WAP” with Megan Thee Stallion. Three of the four are collaborations or features, a distinction that has become central to the debate surrounding her record. Nicki Minaj’s three Diamond singles are “Super Bass,” “Starships,” and “Bang Bang” with Jessie J and Ariana Grande.
“Bodak Yellow” made Cardi B the first female rapper to earn a Diamond single when it was certified in 2021. The song’s commercial dominance established her as a force in hip-hop, and her debut album Invasion of Privacy later became the first album by any artist to have every track certified at least platinum. “I Like It” and the Maroon 5 feature followed, giving her multiple Diamond titles before “WAP.”
The “WAP” certification carried additional weight. It gave Megan Thee Stallion her first Diamond plaque and arrived as Cardi B was promoting her second album, Am I the Drama?, which had debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in 2025. The timing of the certification reflected the streaming era’s long-tail effect, where songs continue to accumulate units years after their original release.
A Feud That Refuses to Die
Cardi B and Nicki Minaj have been locked in a public rivalry since 2017. Early tension surrounded Cardi B’s rapid commercial ascent and comments about verses and features. When Migos featured both ladies on “Motorsport,” tensions began to rise. A year later, the conflict became physical in September 2018 when Cardi B threw a shoe toward Minaj at a New York Fashion Week event after accusing her of liking a comment that criticized Cardi B’s parenting.
The feud receded for several years and then intensified again in September 2025 around the release of Am I the Drama? Insults were exchanged, directed at each other’s children, fertility, drug use, and mental health. In 2026, more subliminal shots have been taken. This includes Cardi B bringing out Meek Mill, Nicki Minaj’s ex, at a concert. So, things like this have kept the rivalry visible.
While the post did not mention the feud, the framing of “dethroned” invited viewers to read the ranking change through that lens. The word itself is loaded with competitive energy. This means a transfer of a title or crown rather than a narrow statistical update. It suggests that Minaj held something Cardi B has now taken. After all, that narrative fueled their longstanding feud.
X Responds to the Ranking Change
Quote-tweets and replies created various schools of thought rather than a single consensus. One large group treated the headline as straightforward good news for Cardi B. As a result, those people listed the four songs and celebrating the milestone. Fan accounts posted graphics of the four plaques. Furthermore, these groups of accounts emphasized that she achieved the first female-rap Diamond single as a lead artist.
A second group responded to the word “dethroned” with counter-statistics. Recurring points included Nicki Minaj’s higher pure album sales, the different commercial eras in which the two artists peaked, and featured credits on several of Cardi B’s Diamond titles. One widely circulated quote-tweet argued that Cardi B “won the statistic” while Nicki Minaj “didn’t lose the culture.”
A third group focused on fan-base behavior. Posts predicted lengthy rebuttals from Nicki Minaj’s fans, with one popular reply stating that “the barbz typing their think pieces right now.” Another said Nicki Minaj and her fans were “about to go on a 6 month rant.” Sentiment was polarized along existing fan lines.
Some fans already ranked Cardi B higher commercially treated the headline as confirmation. Meanwhile, others ranked Nicki Minaj higher on influence or catalog depth treated the headline as incomplete or era-biased.
The Streaming Era and the Diamond Debate
The statistic is not without its complexities. Streaming-equivalent formulas allow catalog titles to keep accumulating units long after their original chart runs. Songs released in 2011–2012 and songs released in 2017–2020 can reach Diamond on different timelines and under different consumption patterns. The formula converts 150 on-demand audio or video streams into one unit for singles.
Nicki Minaj’s career began in a period when physical and digital purchases constituted a larger share of units. Cardi B’s peak commercial years coincided with the dominance of on-demand streaming. Some commentators argue that streaming conversion rates make contemporary certifications easier to obtain. Others treat RIAA units as the current official standard and the comparison as valid.
Album-era sales versus streaming-era equivalent units remain a recurring point of comparison. Minaj’s catalog includes numerous multi-platinum singles that have not yet reached the Diamond line. Her supporters emphasize influence, catalog depth, and pure album sales. Cardi B’s supporters emphasize her record-breaking singles and her ability to generate massive streaming numbers.
Understanding the Changing of the Guard
The ranking change is significant inside a narrow but highly visible metric: the number of RIAA Diamond singles credited to female rappers. Diamond remains a relatively rare threshold. Reaching it four times puts Cardi B in a small group of artists across all genres and makes her the first female rapper to do so. For Megan Thee Stallion, the same certification supplied a first Diamond plaque.
The language of “dethroning” converts a certification increment into a succession story. In hip-hop, titles such as “queen of rap” have long been contested through chart positions, sales, cultural influence, and public feuds. A headline that treats Diamond count as the decisive crown participates in an existing competitive frame.
Pairing the two portraits and use “dethroned” is consistent with the practice of packaging industry data in language that maximizes engagement. The post did not mention featured credits, era differences, or the fact that the ranking change had already been public for weeks. It supplied a prompt. The replies supplied the expanded debate the post itself did not contain.
Conclusion: The War That Will Never End
The debate that erupted after Cardi B’s fourth Diamond certification was never really about the plaques themselves. It was about how the plaques are counted. In other words, features versus leads, streaming versus sales, different eras, different rules. It was about whether a statistical record should carry cultural weight. Furthermore, it was about two fan bases who have spent years arguing over who deserves the crown, with each side armed with a different set of metrics.
Cardi B has the number. Nicki Minaj has the catalog depth. Both are true and will continue to be true regardless of how many plaques each artist accumulates. The RIAA will continue to certify songs. The streaming era will continue to inflate totals. New artists will emerge and add their own plaques to the conversation. The record will eventually fall to someone else, whether that is Minaj adding another Diamond plaque to her catalog or a newcomer breaking through.
The post Cardi B dethrones Nicki Minaj as female rapper with most RIAA diamond-certified songs appeared first on Hip Hop Vibe.
source https://hip-hopvibe.com/news/cardi-b-nicki-minaj-diamond-songs/
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