Billboard is correcting Tekashi 6ix9ine after he throws around the speculation that you can buy your No. 1 on the chart.
Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande’s hit single “Stuck With U” topped the Billboard Hot 100 charts this week, but Tekashi 6ix9ine was skeptical about the veracity of that. The New York native accused the singers of buying the no. 1 spot claiming that an inexplicable 60,000 additional units rolled in “last minute” for their collaboration, which was “completely illegal,” according to the rapper. Billboard did not take kindly to Tekashi’s blatant accusations about the credibility of the charts and has responded with a detailed explanation of how the metrics work.
According to Billboard’s statement, the huge spike in sales for “Stuck With U” was likely a result of Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande offering signed CDs with the single through their webstores. Tekashi did point this out and used it to support his argument that Billboard was in bed with the pop singers because they were promoting the memorabilia themselves on the final day of the tracking week.
“The sales spike is likely referring to sales on Thursday, May 14 – the final day of the tracking week – when signed Stuck With U singles were put up for sale in Grande and Bieber’s webstores,” Billboard explained. “A signed single or album is an accepted form of sales available to any artist and has been noted repeatedly within Billboard chart stories when such items have impacted the Hot 100.”
Billboard noted in their response that Tekashi 6ix9ine didn’t released a signed CD single/digital downlod via his online store until the final tracking day, which put him at a disadvantage and would be the fault of his team.
Grande and Bieber single sold 108K copies in the week ending on May 14, while 6ix9ine’s post prison hit, “Gooba,” sold 24K copies in the same tracking week, according to data from Nielsen Music/MRC Data.”
They further explained that streams play a large role in the chart placement but so do factors like radio play and sales, and it looks like JB and Ariana’s “Stuck With U” scored tens of millions in radio airplay audiences.
Billboard stated that, “The Hot 100 has a locked-in methodology, updated at least once a year, with each metric divided by a certain number, which results in an average chart ratio, whereby streams are the most heavily weighted factor, followed next by radio airplay and then sales. Each song has its own ratio breakdown based on its specific activity, which contributes to the overall chart average each week.”
They continued, “Overall, Stuck With U drew 28.1 million U.S. streams, 26.3 million in radio airplay audience and 108,000 sold in the tracking week. Gooba had 55.3 million U.S. streams, 172,000 in radio airplay audience, and 24,000 sold.”
I guess that’s that on this week’s Billboard roundup. When was the last time an artist caused the music giant to have to make such a lengthy public statement to defend themselves against speculation?
Tekashi 6ix9ine continues to make his return an impactful one, though he might just be bitter about not getting that No. 1 song.
