Barbie World
"Barbie World" is a song by Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj and American rapper Ice Spice from Barbie the Album, the soundtrack of the film Barbie (2023). It was released by Atlantic Records, 10K Projects, and Capitol Records as the soundtrack's third single on June 23, 2023, and was serviced to United States radio on June 27, 2023. The song heavily samples the 1997 single "Barbie Girl" by Danish Europop band Aqua, who are credited as performers and co-writers in the song.
"Barbie World"
June 23, 2023
2023
1:49
- Ephrem Louis Lopez Jr.
- Johnny Pederson
- Karsten Dahlgaard
- Lene Nystrøm
- Claus Norreen
- René Dif
- Søren Rasted
RiotUSA
"Barbie World" debuted at number seven on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Minaj's 23rd, Ice Spice's fourth, and Aqua's second top-ten hit. Elsewhere, the single also reached the top ten in Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, top twenty in Iceland, Finland, France and Hungary, top thirty in Czech Republic and Lithuania, top forty in Belgium and Slovakia and top fifty in Portugal and Italy. The song earned nominations for Best Song Written for Visual Media and Best Rap Song at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards.
Release[edit]
In April 2022, it was announced that the live-action Barbie film would be released on July 21, 2023.[44] In May 2023, a second trailer for the film was released, which featured a snippet of a new song with vocals from Minaj. Media speculated the composition to be a remix of "Barbie Girl".[45][46] On May 25, Barbie the Album, the soundtrack to the film, was announced.[47] Minaj and fellow rapper Ice Spice were revealed among multiple artists to be performing new original material on the record.[47] Following the tracklist release, it was confirmed that the new song was a collaboration between Minaj and Ice Spice, titled "Barbie World".[48]
On June 10, both rappers announced the song's release date as June 23, 2023, marking the fourth single from the film's soundtrack.[49] Minaj previewed "Barbie World" twice on her social media, on June 12 and 22.[50][51] It marks the second collaboration between Minaj, Ice Spice, and producer RiotUSA, following the remix of "Princess Diana" (2023).[35]
Commercial performance[edit]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Barbie World" debuted at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 with 16.2 million streams, 37,000 digital downloads sold, and 4.7 million airplay audience—matching the peak of "Barbie Girl". With this, Minaj extended her record for the most top-ten entries by a female rapper (23), she also broke her tie with Eminem and Jay-Z to become the rapper with the third most top ten entries only behind Lil Wayne (25) and Drake (68).[57][58] She also tied Whitney Houston as the woman with the sixth-most top-tens on the chart. The song also became Ice Spice's fourth and Aqua's second top-ten. As Aqua's second top-ten, it marked the sixth-longest gap between two top-10s in the chart's history, with a span of almost 26 years. It additionally marked the second-longest gap among groups and the longest since Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)" in 2022 (59 years, 6 months).[59] It went on to become Ice Spice's third song to top the US Spotify chart, making her the female rapper with the most number one hits in the region, and the first for Minaj since "Bang Bang" in 2014.[60]
The song also debuted atop the Digital Songs chart, becoming Minaj's 16th, Ice Spice's second, and Aqua's first number-one.[59]
The song went on to peak at number 7 on the Canadian Hot 100 in its fifth week.[61] It additionally charted at number 11 on the Canadian Digital Songs chart.[62]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Across Europe, the song achieved commercial success. In Ireland, the song debuted at number 28 on the Irish Singles Chart on the weekly issue ending June 30, 2023, and leaped 15 spots to a new peak of number six during its fifth week on the chart.[63] Similarly, it charted at number 25 in its opening week in the United Kingdom. It eventually leaped to number five on its fifth week on the chart, ascending 15 spots and reached a new peak of number 4 the following week.[64] It became Ice Spice's first credited top-five hit, Aqua's sixth and Minaj's fifteenth.[65]
"Barbie World" went on to peak at number three in Australia and New Zealand.[66][67] It became Spice's second top-five hit in both countries and Minaj's first top-five hit in both countries since "Super Freaky Girl" topped the charts of both countries in 2022.
All credits are adapted from CD liner notes of Barbie the Album.[70]