Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber respond to Tekashi 6ix9ine's accusation that she 'bought' the No. 1 spot for their duet

Callie Ahlgrim

May 19, 2020, 04:55 IST

Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber respond to Tekashi 6ix9ine's accusation that she 'bought' the No. 1 spot for their duet

Tekashi 6ix9ine, center, in the music video for "Gooba."David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images / Steve Granitz/WireImage / Tekashi 6ix9ine/YouTube

Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber's charity duet "Stuck With U" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week.
Tekashi 6ix9ine's new single "Gooba" debuted at No. 3, behind Doja Cat's "Say So" at No. 2.
The rapper had accused Grande of somehow purchasing the No. 1 spot on the chart and manipulating Billboard's sales tracker.
"They bought 30,000 units with six credit cards," he said in a video. "Six credits cards. Now, again, you're gonna enjoy your No. 1. Explain how you buy 30,000 with six credit cards?"
Grande replied in a lengthy Instagram post, strongly denying the accusation: "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."
Bieber added: "Nielsen company checks this and found all our sales were legit because our fans are amazing and bought them. Don't discredit our fan base with false info."
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Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber have strongly denied Tekashi 6ix9ine's accusation that Grande somehow purchased the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 this week.

Grande's duet with Bieber, "Stuck With U," was released at midnight on May 8 to raise money for the First Responders Children's Foundation.

According to Billboard, the single sold a whopping 108,000 copies in its first week, earning a No. 1 debut despite weaker streaming numbers. (Billboard's formula gives physical sales more weight than streaming numbers.) Many of these sales came from physical/digital bundles, including limited copies autographed by both singers.

—Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) May 14, 2020

Tekashi 6ix9ine, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, also dropped his latest single, "Gooba," on May 8.

It's his first new song following his release from prison last month; the Brooklyn rapper was sentenced to two years after he pleaded guilty for racketeering, illegal firearms possession, and aiding in an attempted murder, but has been allowed to serve the rest of his sentence at home because of the coronavirus.

"Gooba" debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, behind Doja Cat's "Say So" at No. 2.

6ix9ine has been making a lot of noise about Billboard's apparent corruption all week. Here's a breakdown of his accusations and the two singers' responses.

6ix9ine accused Grande of purchasing the No. 1 spot with 'six credit cards'

Just before Billboard announced this week's chart placements on Monday, 6ix9ine posted a video on Instagram, in which he accuses Grande of manipulating Billboard's sales tracker.

"They bought 30,000 units with six credit cards," he said, apparently referring to Grande and Bieber — though he only ever mentions Grande by name. "Six credits cards. Now, again, you're gonna enjoy your No. 1. Explain how you buy 30,000 with six credit cards?"

"It's all manipulated, it's all fabricated. You can buy No. 1s."

6ix9ine also alleged that Billboard launched an investigation into the sales of "Stuck With U," which he said confirmed his accusation.

@billboard YOU’RE A LIE AND CORRUPT. YOU GOT CAUGHT CHEATING AND THE WORLD WILL KNOW.

A post shared by IM BACK AND THEY MAD (@6ix9ine) on May 18, 2020 at 10:46am PDTMay 18, 2020 at 10:46am PDT

Logistically, 6ix9ine's accusations don't make any sense

Billboard and the Nielsen Corporation, which track music sales, only allow four sales of a song per credit card.

So even if Grande had whipped out six different credit cards to buy her own song, she would only be able to purchase 24 copies — not 30,000.

As Grande and Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, notes: "Anything above that the entire amount gets thrown out. They review that. All must be confirmed."

In the video, 6ix9ine claims that "Gooba" was streamed 50 million times, but Billboard "illegally disqualified 20 million streams."

However, it's unclear where 6ix9ine is getting these numbers. "Gooba" debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Streaming Songs chart with 55.3 million US streams, according to the report released on Monday.

Conversely, "Stuck With U" debuted at No. 4 on Streaming Songs with 28.1 million — but debuted at No. 1 on the Digital Song Sales chart.

Again, a song that sells more copies than it streams will naturally perform better on Billboard's main chart: 150 streams on paid subscription services, like Spotify Premium and Apple Music, are counted as "equal" to one pure sale.

However, Billboard also has a tiered way of measuring streams so songs that were streamed on ad-supported platforms (like YouTube and the free version of Spotify) are only worth two-thirds of a paid streaming point.

Grande called 6ix9ine out for subtle sexism and clarified: 'Numbers aren't the driving force in anything I do'

Grande had already posted a video alluding to the controversy last week. She urged fans not to get caught up in chart positions, or to lose sight of what truly matters — especially given that she and Bieber released "Stuck With U" to raise money for charity.

— ✧･ﾟ: * (@TwirlyButera) May 13, 2020

After "Stuck With U" officially made its debut at No. 1, Grande posted a lengthy response to 6ix9ine's accusations on Instagram.

"anyone who knows me or has followed me for a while knows that numbers aren't the driving force in anything i do," she wrote. "so with this celebration today, 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). they are ride or die motherf---ers and i thank god every day that i have them in my life."

Grande pointed out that "sales count for more than streams," and declared: "u can not discredit this as hard as u try." She also made note of 6ix9ine's curious habit of only mentioning Grande's name in his accusatory videos, never Bieber's.

thank u to everybody who supported this song, this cause and made this happen. we love uuuuu so much. there’s so much to celebrate today. however, i would like to say a few things. anyone who knows me or has followed me for a while knows that numbers aren’t the driving force in anything i do. i’m grateful to sing. grateful to have people who want to listen. grateful to even be here at all. i didn’t have a number one for the first five years of my career and it didn’t upset me at all because from the bottom of my heart, music is everything to me. my fans are everything to me. i promise i couldn’t ask for another fucking thing. so with this celebration today, 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). they are ride or die motherfuckers and i thank god every day that i have them in my life. not just when they fight for us to win (even when i ask them not to as i did this week) but because they’re some of the greatest people i know. sales count for more than streams. u can not discredit this as hard as u try. 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. TO WANT TO BE HEARD AT ALL .... and you should feel that way too. congratulations to all my talented ass peers in the top ten this week. even number 3. and thank u to @billboard for this honor. and thank u to everybody who helped us raise a lot of money for a very important cause this week. love u all a lot.

A post shared by Ariana Grande (@arianagrande) on May 18, 2020 at 12:40pm PDTMay 18, 2020 at 12:40pm PDT

"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," she wrote. "be grateful you're even here. that people want to listen to u at all. it's a blessed position to be in."

Grande added, referring explicitly to 6ix9ine's debut at No. 3 on the chart: "congratulations to all my talented a-- peers in the top ten this week. even number 3."

Artists like Lizzo and Zara Larsson have applauded Grande for her message.

—Ariana Grande Today (@ArianaToday) May 18, 2020

Bieber also slammed the accusation: 'Don't discredit our fan base with false info'

Bieber posted a message about 6ix9ine's accusation on his Instagram story.

First, the singer noted that only domestic streams of each song count towards Billboard's Hot 100 chart. He also reiterated that each credit card is limited to four copies of a song.

"Nielsen company checks this and found all our sales were legit because our fans are amazing and bought them," he wrote. "Don't discredit our fan base with false info."

"This is my song with Ariana Grande and I'm honored to work with her to help raise money for a great cause," he added. "If you gonna say her name make sure you say mine because it's our song."

—Ariana Grande Today (@ArianaToday) May 18, 2020

Around the same time, 6ix9ine made another video 'to address Ariana'

Again, 6ix9ine declined to acknowledge Bieber in his video, which doubled down on his accusation that Billboard's chart positions can be purchased.

"I make this video to address Ariana," he said. "I don't want you to think that I'm coming at you. Not saying that you not talented, not saying that you can't sing. You're a beautiful singer. You just don't understand my pain. My frustration is from Billboard. I speak for the millions of kids that come from nothing."

6ix9ine continued to emphasize that he comes from a "different background," showing clips of Grande acting on Nickelodeon's "Victorious" to apparently emphasize his point.

@arianagrande All I’m saying is I worked super hard to make it out of Brooklyn NY. I speak for the millions of kids who aren’t as fortunate as you. The millions who weren’t fortunate to be on T.V.. LIFE is REAL when you’re on welfare LIFE is REAL when you grow up with out a father. You don’t know what that is like. You say for me to be humble .... I don’t think you know what humble is.......... YOU ARE VERY TALENTED AND BEAUTIFUL GOD BLESS YOU. But you will NEVER UNDERSTAND MY PAIN

A post shared by IM BACK AND THEY MAD (@6ix9ine) on May 18, 2020 at 1:37pm PDTMay 18, 2020 at 1:37pm PDT

Representatives for Billboard did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

"Stuck With U" is Grande's third No. 1 on the chart, following "Thank U, Next" and "7 Rings," both of which also debuted in the top spot.

She is now the only artist in history to have all of her first three No. 1 hits debut in that position. She's also the first artist to debut a song at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in three consecutive years.

"Stuck With U" is Bieber's sixth No. 1 hit, and also his third song to debut in that position.