Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber are on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Stuck with
U.”
But one rapper is claiming the two CHEATED their way to the top of the chart!
So, what’s true and what’s just plain jealousy?
What’s up everyone, it’s Sussan Mourad here with Clevver News and Tekashi 6ix9ine
blasted Ariana, Justin and Billboard online, claiming he should be on top with his hit
“Gooba.”
According to some data, 6ix9ine actually broke the YouTube record for most views by a hip-hop
video in it’s first 24 hours.
According to Hip Hop DX, his video had 43 million views in 24 hours.
That’s a LOT of views people!
Okay, there ARE a few qualifiers in there, but he dethroned Eminem!
That’s a major accomplishment no matter how you slice it.
Anyway, a video that got off to that hot of a start has probably got a really good chance
of being Number One on Billboard’s Hot 100, right?
Well it hasn’t yet, and 6ix 9ine is now accusing Billboard and Ariana’s team of
rigging the results.
Basically he’s saying she and JB cheated their way to the top!
YEAH, those are some major allegations.
I can’t do his argument justice, so hear him explain
it himself.
They are some pretty bold statements, but he wasn’t done….
Okay, so the allegation definitely seems out there… and while Tekashi said Billboard
responded that they couldn’t give any further information, Ari, Justin and their team have
some responses on all of this.
We’ll get to that so stick with me.
Because that’s not all he had to say...
Alright, those numbers are definitely eye popping, and there’s certainly gotta be
more details to this.
6ix9ine then wrapped up with this...
Many fans on Twitter were actually on 6ix9ine’s side, with one person referencing music exec
Scooter Bruan by saying, quote; “we already knew scooter buys his artists
their achievements.
this isnt news”
Others poked holes in his story, wondering why he didn’t just do the same thing, asking,
quote; “if it's so easy to buy a #1 why didn't he buy it?”
Well Ariana and Justin ofcourse got wind of Tekashi’s claims and didn’t take the cheating
allegations lightly, and went out of their way to actually respond!
Ariana was up first with a lengthy Instagram post where she first began by thanking everyone
who supported the song and how grateful she is to be able to make music.
Ari then went on to say quote; “i would like to address a few things which
i don’t usually do (i don’t give my energy to drama or strange accusations normally but
this has gone a little too far)...my fans bought the song.
JUSTIN’S fans bought the song.
OUR fans bought this song (never more than four copies each, AS THE RULES STATE).”
She continued, “to anybody that is displeased with their placement on the chart this week
or who is spending their time racking their brain thinking of as many ways as they can
to discredit hardworking women (and only the women for some reason.....), i ask u to take
a moment to humble yourself.
be grateful you’re even here.
that people want to listen to u at all.
it’s a blessed position to be in.
i’ve had a lot of “almost number ones” in my career and i never said a goddamn thing
because I FEEL GRATEFUL TO EVEN BE HERE”
Though she never referenced Tekashi by name, it was perfectly clear WHO she was talking
about.
But 6ix9ine wasn’t done talking on this.
He responded to Ariana with another video:
But of course ‘Stuck With U’ is a duet that features both Ari AND Justin Bieber,
and Justin made it clear he wasn’t going to sit on the sidelines in this debate.
Justin also posted to IG, going directly at 6ix9ine’s claims, including the credit card
claims by saying, quote;
“He said 30k was bought with 6 credit cards but that is a lie.
The rules are clear one credit can buy max 4 copies.
Anything over that the entire amount gets thrown out.”
Justin also took the time to address 6ix9ine’s other claims.
Regarding not all his streams being counted, Justin said quote:
“He says his streams don’t count.
Yes they do but he is counting his global streams and this is a domestic chart so only
domestic streams count.”
Regarding the large number of units that came in right before the cut off, Justin responded
with quote “60,000 units came because we don’t disclose our numbers until the end
of the week.
That’s called strategy.”
Justin also added that he was a part of this song, and anything anyone had to say about
Ariana better include him, writing, “This is my song with Ariana Grande and I’m honored
to work with her to help raise money for a great cause.
If you gonna say her name make sure you say mine because it’s our song.”
We love that solidarity.
Well Scooter Braun also had his own response on all these allegations.
He responded to Ariana’s instagram post saying: “Only domestic streams are counted
for a domestic chart.
If someone is counting their total they aren’t counting correctly.”
He continued, “Two…We never disclose our sales until end of week.
That is called strategy and is and always has been our policy.
Three… Nielsen and billboard rules state clearly one credit card can only buy max 4
copies.
Anything above that the entire amount gets thrown out.
They review that.
All must be confirmed.
Which it was.
No one should discredit your amazing fan base with lies.”
Scooter then interestingly does say that there was an investigation, but it wasn’t about
which song was in what spot: “Four…Yes there was an investigation this week but it
was into a video that had 6 times the amount of paid bot activity than the normal video.
That video was not ours.”
Meanwhile, Billboard attempted to clear up all of 6ix9ine’s claims about the chart
data and their process in an article published Monday night titled “How Billboard Came
to Its Calculations in This Week's Race For the Hot 100 No. 1”.
They acknowledge that 6ixnine has made some claims before getting into their breakdown
saying quote: “This was met with some controversy on social media, as 6ix9ine had taken to Instagram
shortly before the chart's reveal to assert that streams of his single had been improperly
discounted, and allege that the powers behind "Stuck With U" had "bought" their No. 1 through
ill-gotten sales totals...In the interest of transparency, Billboard wanted to clear
up the Hot 100's chart rules.”
So if you want to get into all those nitty gritty details, check it out on their website.
Okay, so what do you think of these allegations?
And what are your thoughts on how they each handled their response?
Sound off down below.
For more on who Scooter Braun is and his infamous feud with Taylor Swift, click the video right
over here.