Nicki Minaj ties with Aretha Franklin for woman with most Top 100 hits

With her debut this week on the Billboard Hot 100 with Make Love, Nicki Minaj has made her 73rd appearance in the Billboard Hot 100. 

The Trinidad-born rapper now ties with soul legend Aretha Franklin for most appearances by a woman in the chart’s 58-year history.

Make Love, which she cut with Gucci Mane, entered the chart at #78.

Minaj was the lead artist in 29 of those 73 entries and a featured artist on 44. She has sold 20 million singles as a lead artist, and 60 million singles as a featured artist worldwide.

Born Onika Tanya Maraj on December 8, 1982 and with a personal fortune valued in 2014 at $14 million, she has been in the Top 10 thirteen times. Minaj’s first appearance on the chart was on Lil Wayne’s Knockout, which peaked at #44 in 2010.

Her highest charting song was Anaconda, which climbed up to #2 in 2014.

Franklin, who turns 75 this month, had her hits between 1961 to 1998, including Respect, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman and Think right through to her last chart-topper, the duet I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) with George Michael in 1987.

Franklin has had over 100 appearances on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, the last being her cover of Adele’s Rolling In The Deep which debuted on that at #47.

Most amount of Top 100 appearances by female performers:

73 - Aretha Franklin

73 - Nicki Minaj

70 - Taylor Swift

58 - Rihanna

57 - Madonna

56 - Dionne Warwick

54 - Beyoncé

53 - Connie Francis

48 - Mariah Carey

48 - Brenda Lee

43 - Miley Cyrus

41 - Barbra Streisand

40 - Mary J. Blige

40 - Janet Jackson

40 - Diana Ross