Today is Cardi Day. Fate, marketing, and the most known/unknown powers of the universe have deemed it so. The Bronx rapper's lively, charismatic debut album Invasion of Privacy is a success even without strong sales, but also who am I kidding: those sales are kind of everything in the capitalist pro-wrestling-ish terrordome we live in. Luckily for Cardi, any worry she may have had about numbers can be quelled, as the album has already gone Gold mere hours after dropping.As Forbes reports, the 5 million equivalent units (streaming sales and digital downloads) of "Bodak Yellow"—included on Invasion of Privacy because, duh—translate to 500,000 equivalent units for the album, which by the RIAA's standards makes it eligible for certification as a Gold album. The ever-helpful Chart Data pointed this out back in March, explaining that the RIAA counts 10 streaming units as one equivalent album sale. If this sounds familiar, it's because Drake's Views pulled off the same feat in 2016. The addition of "Hotline Bling" to the Boy's would-be magnum opus resulted in the LP instantly going Platinum upon arrival, becoming the highest-selling album of the year and of Drake's career.The question that was raised at that point—and that still continues today—is whether or not this is "fair," especially given the competitive nature of sales and certifications in rap. Should it matter that a nearly-year old single could make an album look more popular than it actually is? Maybe, maybe not, but streaming is still new and weird, and the democratization it's introduced is still largely welcome if it boosts voices like Cardi's. You can read more about the Invasion of Privacy certification here.Phil is on Twitter.
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