“Still got the magic” - Cardi B’s ‘Imaginary Playerz’ peaks on iTunes within a day of release, fueling fan excitement

On Friday, August 15, Cardi B dropped the second single from her upcoming album, Am I The Drama?. The track, titled Imaginary Playerz, dropped alongside its music video, featuring luxurious visuals such as private jets, yachts, and Lamborghinis.

In less than a day after its release, Imaginary Playerz reached #1 on the US iTunes chart. The news has since been circulating on the internet, with one netizen commenting on it:

zagalost ⨀

@zagalost

Cardi’s still got the magic first day out and she’s already sitting at the top of US iTunes with Imaginary Playerz.

Some netizens claimed that despite her #1 song, Cardi B still wasn't superior to Taylor Swift.

NEO | neooo.sui 🪖

@Neodot13

But she couldn't be able to surpass ​ " Taylor Swift""" The legend 💕💕💕

ag

@theagnft

cardi really dropped a track and cleared the whole app like it was light work

Sputnik🛰️

@VasBroughtToX

That took no time at all💯💯🔥

Meanwhile, others were surprised it took that long for Imaginary Playerz to reach #1.

.

@juicyyminaj

Discounted upon release & still took that long? Oh brokie gang…

Pinkybitch

@pinkgirlpop

She ate this up 🔥🔥

vincent elordi 🍂

@SWlFTSHAWN

Give it 3 days max it’ll be off top 10 🤣🤣

Cardi's Imaginary Playerz samples Jay-Z's 1997 track with the same name, which was released as part of the rapper's In My Lifetime, Vol. 1.

According to Billboard, in an X Spaces chat with her fans, the WAP rapper spoke about it as she claimed to have gotten Hov's stamp of approval for the song, saying:

"If he didn’t approve it, I probably wouldn’t even feel a certain type of way neither, because it’s like, 'OK, maybe I just had to come a little bit harder' But I’m glad that I came hard and he loved it."

Imaginary Playerz comes in the wake of her album's lead single, Outside, which was released almost two months ago, on June 20, 2025. The song, which is speculated to be a diss track aimed at Cardi's estranged husband, Offset, debuted atop the US Billboard Hot 100 chart after its release.

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Cardi B defended Tyla amid the singer being body-shamed on social media

Celebrity Sightings - Paris Fashion Week - Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2025/2026 - Day Two - Source: Getty

Cardi B's Imaginary Playerz comes days after the rapper took a stand for fellow artist, Tyla, in an X Spaces session. According to Billboard, the rapper addressed the body-shaming Tyla was facing online to highlight how hard the internet was on celebrities.

The Bodak Yellow rapper said:

"Look at Tyla. People been dragging the sh*t out of Tyla and it’s, like, the girl don’t even f**king address or talk about nothing."

Cardi went on to claim that while she didn't know what was at the core of the criticism the Water singer was facing on social media, she would often find people "talking sh*t" about her on TikTok. She added:

"I’m starting to feel that people just don’t like celebrities. It’s like the only way that that people like celebrities [is] if you don’t f**king say nothing at all. And they beat your energy and they beat your confidence, they beat you to the f**king ground."

For the unversed, the online backlash Tyla is currently facing stems from an old TikTok video from 2020, in which the singer referred to herself as a "color South African".

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Cardi B's Am I The Drama? is scheduled to release on September 19, 2025. The new album marks her first LP in seven years, after her debut album, Invasion of Privacy (2018).