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Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s new song “WAP” has everybody talking. Whether it’s petitioning for Kylie Jenner to be removed from the music video or arguing about its role in feminism- the song is making headlines. While some call ‘WAP’ an empowering female anthem calling for sexual agency and self-love, others are calling it degrading.
The song has even turned into a political debate gaining attention from conservative commentators like Ben Shapiro who read the lyrics on camera. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez even stepped into the debate by tweeting that “WAP” stood for “Women Against Patriarchy.” Despite some of the hate that the women have received it is proving to be one of the most successful collaborations in music history.
Wap was just released on August 7th and made its debut by hitting number 1 on the coveted Billboard Hot 100 list. It is also sitting at number 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts. In its first week, it had 93 million streams in the United States. According to Nielsen Music/MRC Data, the impressive number is the most to ever happen in its first week- for any song, in any genre, male or female. The song is also number 1 on both the Streaming Songs and Digital Sales charts with 93 million U.S. streams and 125,000 downloads sold. The sum of sales in the last week is also the highest in over a year. According to Billboard, last week it drew in an impressive 11.6 million radio airplay audience impressions.
The song calls for women to claim, embrace, and be proud of their special lady part which is why it also broke records for the most weekly on-demand audio streams among women with 54.7 million. The record just passed Ariana Grande who had 54.6 million for her song “7 Rings.” The music video is also incredibly successful and has over 109 million views and counting.
The women are successful on the charts in their own regards. This is Cardi’s fourth time leading the chart and Megan Thee Stallion’s second. Cardi’s first single “Bodak Yellow” sat at the top of the charts for 3 weeks in October 2017. She then became the first female rapper with two number 1 songs in 2018 after her song “I like it” with Bad Bunny and J Balvin was released. Megan hit the number one spot earlier this spring with her song ‘Savage.’
Cardi B shared her excitement on Instagram by uploading a video thanking her fans saying “I don’t even know how to thank you ‚I wish I can give you a big ass hug!!!” “Thank you to my fans Megan fans. Thank you the world for listening. I’m just soooo thankful I can’t even type it. Imma gets like a bad b---h and tell ya later. Love ya WAAAAAAAPP.” Megan also celebrated the news on her IG Megan also celebrated the news on Instagram with a post captioned.
“FIRST FEMALE RAP COLLABORATION IN HISTORY TO DEBUT AT NUMBER 1 😭😭😭 God is so great 🙏🏾 THANK YALL!!!,” she wrote. ”@iamcardib thank you for all your words of encouragement, thank you for all the laughs, & thank you for having me on the record 💕💕💕💕 #WAP”