NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 12: Cardi B attends Rihanna's 5th Annual Diamond Ball at Cipriani ... [+]
Cardi B came to prominence during streaming music’s rise, and thus she has seen her biggest hits accrue massive play counts on platforms like Spotify, where she is one of the most successful artists of the past several years. Now, as one of her singles reaches an important milestone, she has made history, and in more ways than one.
The New York City native’s global smash “I Like It” has just passed one billion listens on the world’s most popular streaming music platform, making it one of only about 60 songs to reach that mark. The track, which features both Bad Bunny and J Balvin, is now the first led by a female rapper to be played at least one billion times.
The song was a giant on Spotify from the moment it was released, and it didn’t take too long for it to rise on charts all around the world, propelled at first by streams. Later, it became a huge hit on radio, and it eventually made its way to No. 1 on the Hot 100 and earned Cardi, Bad Bunny and J Balvin a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year, though they didn’t win.
While “I Like It” is the first song fronted by a female rapper to reach one billion streams on Spotify, it’s not the first track with a woman who raps credited to hit that goal. Maroon 5’s remixed version of their single “Girls Like You,” which also features Cardi B, reached and passed one billion clicks some time ago, and it has been adding to its total ever since.
“Girls Like You” was originally a solo cut by Maroon 5 featured on their full-length Red Pill Blues, but when the band released it as a single, Cardi B added a verse and turned it from a catchy album cut to a true smash. It too went to No. 1 on the Hot 100 and earned the two acts a Grammy nod in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance vertical, though they didn’t take home the gold.
With two big wins on the platform to her name, Cardi B is the first female rapper with a pair of billion-streamers on Spotify, and that’s a title she’ll hold on to for a while, as no other musicians who fit that description are close to scoring two massive hits. Nicki Minaj appears to be the next woman in rap to push a song past one billion plays, as her collaboration with Ariana Grande, the highly successful “Side to Side,” recently passed 900 million clicks.
