Adele is patiently waiting to score her 24th week at the top of the Billboard 200 with her ’21′ album but until that occurs, she continues to enjoy strong sales in the runner-up slot. On the Billboard Hot 100, however, another female artist has enjoyed strong gains.

Nicki Minaj’s ‘Starships’ has leaped from #9 to #6 on the Hot 100. The song sold 172K downloads with 41 million audience impressions and and 440K online on-demand streams.

‘Starships’ is the latest single from Minaj’s upcoming ‘Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded’ album. Set to hit stores on April 3rd, the LP also inclues the tunes ‘Right by My Side (Ft. Chris Brown)’ and ‘Beez in the Trap (Ft. 2 Chainz)’.

Meanwhile, Adele’s ’21′ remained at #2 on the Billboard 200 this week as One Direction claimed the top spot with their ‘Up All Night’ album. ’21′ has sold over 8.24 million copies in the US, including the 148K sold this week.

See the leading releases in the top 10 of both Billboard 200 and the Hot 100 below:

Billboard 200

1. One Direction – ‘Up All Night’ – 176K (debut)

2. Adele – ’21′ – 148K (total: 8.24 M)

3. Guns N’ Roses - ‘Greatest Hits’ – 85K (total: 525K)

4. Bruce Springsteen – ‘Wrecking Ball’ – 57K (total: 255K)

5. Various Artists – ‘Passion: White Flag’ – 48K (debut)

6. Whitney Houston – ‘The Greatest Hits’ – 45K (2.38M)

7. Drake - ‘Take Care’ – 36K (total: 1.62 M)

8. Various Artists – ‘Now 41′ – 29K (total: 516K)

9. Gotye - ‘Making Mirrors’ – 24K (total: 174K)

10.  fun. - ‘Some Nights’ – 22K (total: 139K)

 

Billboard Hot 100

1. fun. – ‘We are Young (Ft. Janelle Monae)’

2. Kelly Clarkson – ‘Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)’

3. The Wanted – ‘Glad You Came’

4. Adele – ‘Set Fire to the Rain’

5. Gotye’s – ‘Somebody That I Used to Know (Ft. Kimbra)’

6. Nicki Minaj – ‘Starships’

7. David Guetta – ‘Turn Me On (Ft. Nicki Minaj)’

8. Drake – ‘Take Care (Ft. Rihanna)’

9. Flo Rida – ‘Wild Ones (Ft. Sia)’

10. Katy Perry  - ‘Part of Me’

Listen to Minaj’s ‘Starships’ below:

Thoughts?