Nicki Minaj Says ‘The Pinkprint’ Is Triple Platinum, Numbers Disagree

UPDATE (12/17): Nicki Minaj has provided actual receipts for her claim that The Pinkprint sold over 3 million copies, which she says comes straight from Universal. Do you believe her yet?

No one should doubt Nicki Minaj's massive success. She's sold millions of albums, won countless awards and proven herself to be a prolific and indisputable talent. She's also claiming one of her albums went triple platinum worldwide — except worldwide certifications don't actually exist because the requirements vary per country.

Earlier today (December 16) Minaj wrote in an Instagram post that her third album The Pinkprint has sold over 3 million copies worldwide:

#1YearOfThePinkprint this album is now TRIPLE platinum worldwide (3.3 Million), even though we have to wait for a March court date to be credited for tracks & streams. Some artists removed their work off Spotify and other services of that nature, but for the ones who did not, we have to be patient for justice in our industry & it finally looks like it's coming. This judgement, when passed, will work retroactively so that we can receive our plaques, etc for all of the free music given away on these services. On Spotify alone, the sales of this album is 1.4 Million worldwide. The music business doesn't really seem designed to reward our culture with the sales & accolades we deserve, as we don't normally cater to middle America, but I'm so happy that some amazing ppl have been fighting for us.

It's true that The Pinkprint received generally favorable reviews from critics and consumers alike, and the album was a commercial success. But the actual numbers simply don't add up to over 3 million sales.

According to a recent cover story Minaj did for Billboard, The Pinkprint has actually sold closer to 682,000 copies in the U.S. since its December 2014 release -- this makes sense, as it was certified Gold back in April, but the album has yet to move a million copies. Judging by Minaj's full caption, it looks like she's basing those numbers pretty heavily on album streams from sites like Apple Music and Spotify, which have different qualifications when counting toward chart positions.

Minaj followed up her initial post with a tweet that read, "Can u guys believe it?" Short answer: No, many cannot believe it. Naturally, fans responded to Minaj's triple platinum claim on Twitter. Mostly with skepticism.

Was this just a major gaffe on Minaj's part? Or will the truth come out in March, following that court date? Is Nicki Minaj trying to change the way streams count toward album sales? What is the truth?

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