A generous anthology released in 2022,
Queen Radio, Vol. 1 gathers highlights from
Nicki Minaj's full-length projects dating back to the 2009 mixtape
Beam Me Up Scotty and adds four new songs. Unsurprisingly, the album with the strongest representation is
Pink Friday. Ten tracks from that pop-oriented mainstream breakthrough -- such as "Moment 4 Life," the number three hit "Super Bass," and "Fly" -- are contained here, and they're joined by the number five single "Starships" and two other songs off
Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. The subsequent "Lookin Ass," recorded for
Young Money's
Rise of an Empire compilation, is rightly part of the story here, as it signaled the harder direction
Minaj took with
The Pinkprint. "Anaconda" and "Truffle Butter" are among the four tracks taken from that LP.
Queen,
Minaj's fourth album, yielded its own slew of charting singles led by inclusions "Chun-Li" and "Barbie Dreams." While the vast majority of greatest-hits packages coincide with a commercial slump,
Queen Radio boasted three exclusive hits by the time it was released. "Super Freaky Girl," one of the new songs, became
Minaj's first unassisted number one pop hit. ~ Andy Kellman