Tekashi 6ix9ine did not break the YouTube debut record after all.
Not long after Tekashi 6ix9ine was celebrating a significant win for him, Nicki Minaj and hip-hop music, YouTube rained all over his parade. It was previously reported that the rapper, along with Nicki Minaj, broke the YouTube debut record for most views in 24 hours with their song “Trollz.” However, it has come to light that this is not so, and unfortunately for Tekashi 6ix9ine, he celebrated too soon.
According to YouTube, who put out a statement on the matter, “Videos eligible for YouTube’s 24-hour record debuts are those with the highest views from organic sources within the first 24 hours of the video’s public release,” a rep for the video platform said.
“This includes direct links to the video, search results, external sites that embed the video and YouTube features like the homepage, watch next and Trending. Video advertising is an effective way to reach specific audiences with a song debut, but paid advertising views on YouTube will no longer be considered when looking at a 24-hour record debut.”
The announcement came a little over a month after 6ix9ine released his hit single “Gooba,” which broke the YouTube record for most views in a 24-hr debut for a hip-hop music video with 38.9 million views. While Tekashi, along with many publications, announced that he had broken his own record with “Trollz” after it clocked 46 million views on its first day, YouTube denied him that accolade.
Fans are speculating that there is more to it than the platform just suddenly making this change. If Tekashi had actually broken the record on the now obsolete basis, he would have succeeded the title for most views in 24-hours on a YouTube debut for a hip-hop music video as well as surpassed Taylor Swift’s solo record of 43.2 million views in 24 hours for “Look What You Made Me Do” and also the 45.9 million 24-hr record for “Idol” by K-pop boyband BTS.
For YouTube’s all-time Top 20 chart, that record would have been Tekashi 6ix9ine’s second entry and placed him in the Top 10 in addition to “Gooba” being at No. 14. According to YouTube, the organic 24-hr view count for “Trollz” was 6.4 million views short of “Gooba,” which would have just placed 6ix9ine outside of the Top 20 behind the last entry on the list.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNg3M9IJJlY
Tekashi 6ix9ine hasn’t publicly commented on his denounced bragging rights, but he is maintaining his promotional plays online. Both 6ix9ine and Minaj are offering “Trollz” merch in their web stores which is a tip the “Gooba” rapper took from Billboard who said that’s what Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande did in addition to having their fans purchase multiple copies of their single when they beat him for the No. 1 spot with their song “Stuck With U.” The rainbow-haired rapper updated his Instagram story on Monday with a swipe up ad to prompt fans to purchase his new single. “To all my fans go get this right now,” the Tekashi wrote. “You can buy up to 4 times, they won’t cheat us this time,” he added.
Seems regardless of this setback with the YouTube 24-hr debut record, 6ix9ine is still charging full speed ahead with sights set on a Billboard No. 1 single. At least he still has the record for most-viewed hip-hop video in 24 hours thanks to his song “Gooba,” which could be considered more monumental, seeing as it was his comeback single.
