Ariana Grande & Justin Bieber Billboard Drama Explained: 6ix9ine Accuses Them of Chart Fraud

19 May 2020, 11:00

Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber found themselves in the midst of a controversy when a chart competitor, 6ix9ine, accused them of buying their own song in bulk to get the number one spot.

Ariana Grande & Justin Bieber have found themselves forced to confront accusations they purchased their song, 'Stuck With U' in bulk to claim the coveted number one spot on the Billboard chart after rapper 6ix9ine accused them of cheating him from his rightful spot.

Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber Shut Down Allegations They Bought No. 1 Spot

6ix9ine accuses Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande of buying their No. 1 spot

Rapper 6ix9ine - who released his first single, 'Gooba', after his recent prison release - shared a video accusing Ariana and Justin's teams of buying 30,000 copies of the song at the last minute using 'six credit cards'.

He said: "They bought 30,000 units with six credit cards...six credits cards."

"Now, again, you're gonna enjoy your No. 1. Explain how you buy 30,000 with six credit cards?"

He also argued his song had many more millions of streams than their's did- which has already been debunked as Billboard is a domestic US chart and the rapper was looking at his global streams.

6ix9ine responds to Ariana Grande after she and Justin Bieber shut down claims 'they bought No.1'

Ariana was the first to speak out in a lengthy Instagram post shutting down the accusations, insisting it were her and Justin's fans who bought all the copies, pointing out any person can only buy a song four times maximum on any card.

She also pointed out she made a video earlier in the week expressing how she doesn't care where the song charts as she's just happy to be making music- and the aim was to raise money for first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 26-year-old wrote: "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."

View this post on Instagram

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 PDT

Ari and Justin's manager, Scooter Braun, then shed further light on why those song sales dropped last minute, explaining it has always been their strategy to disclose their sales at the end of the week, saying his clients achievements shouldn't be discredited from 6ix9ine's lies.

He also sheds further light on Billboard's 'investigation', revealing there indeed was one underway- but it was into a video that had six times the number of paid bot activity as is normal, and it was not on their video.

The shade.

Scooter Braun explains Billboard 'investigation' and last minute sales on Instagram. Picture: Instagram @scooterbraun

Now, 6ix9ine has responded to Ariana, tagging her in an Instagram post saying she'll never understand the struggle he's been through to get where he has in his career.

He wrote: "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."

The rapper then posted a photo of himself holding six credits cards, saying "don't worry we going #1 next time."

View this post on Instagram

Don’t worry we going #1 next time 💳 @billboard

A post shared by IM BACK AND THEY MAD (@6ix9ine) on May 18, 2020 at 4:53pm PDT