6ix9ine Doubles Down on Billboard Cheating Claims, Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber Respond

After his song "Gooba" debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, controversial rapper 6ix9ine has shared a video accusing Billboard of cheating.

His latest video came after he accused Billboard of manipulating the Hot 100 results, and now he claims he has more evidence against the chart. Dressed in all white, 6ix9ine started the video, "I want the world to know, that Billboard is a lie." He added, "You can buy No. 1s on Billboard." 

He goes on to accuse Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber's team of buying plays and downloads for "Stuck With U," which debuted at No. 1 ahead of "Gooba." He continued, "They purchased half of those things with six credit cards. When we asked where was those six credit cards linked to, Billboard said we can't disclose that information." Stressing the "six credit cards" part of the accusation, he said that Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj were "right" about the charts.

This is possibly a reference to Jay-Z's verse on Meek Mill's "What's Free," on which he alluded to "inflating numbers" on the Billboard Hot 100. Nicki Minaj, meanwhile, called out the Billboard 200 Chart after her album Queen debuted at No. 2 behind Travis Scott's Astroworld.

On his Instagram Story, he wrote "Billboard YOU CHEATED. Jay-Z & Nicki Minaj were right people buy there [sic] number 1's nothing is real you guys are frauds." 

"It's all manipulated, it's all fabricated," he said before showing the streams "Gooba" has accumulated, accusing Billboard of "disqualifying" 20 million or so streams.

Regardless of whether there is any weight to his claims, the rapper said he's gearing up to released another track on Friday, May 22. "I prove I'm the king of Instagram," he said in a since-deleted Instagram post, XXLpointed out. "AND I TOOK BACK THE KING OF NEW YORK. I prove that to you with numbers. The internet was dead without me." 

Ariana Grande responded to 6ix9ine, but doesn't mention him by name. She shared a post thanking her fans for their support. "I would like to say a few things," she wrote. "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, my music is everything to me. My fans are everything to me. I promise I couldn't ask for another fucking thing."

She went on to discredit 6ix9ine's accusation that her and Bieber's team bought streams and digital song downloads for the track. "Our fans bought this song (never more than four copies each, AS THE RULES STATE)," she continued. "Sales count for more than streams. U can not discredit this as hard as u try." She suggested anyone doubting the success of the song to "humble yourself." 

6ix9ine responded quickly with another video, explaining that his frustrations are with Billboard, not Ariana Grande.

"I don't want you to think that I am coming at you," he said. "Not saying that you're not talented, not saying that you can't sing. You are a beautiful singer. You just don't understand my pain."

He then gave examples of how they came from different backgrounds. "My mom used to collect cans on the street. I used to bust tables and be a dishwasher," he said. Afterwards, he showed clips of Grande from her time on Nickelodeon.

Justin Bieber also caught wind of all the drama and responded on IG. He pointed to 6ix9ine counting global streams instead of just domestic streams. Bieber also addressed 6ix9ine's claim that thousands of units were purchased with just 6 credit cards, saying, "the rules are clear one credit card can buy max 4 copies." He continued, "Anything over that the entire amount gets thrown out. Nielsen company checks this and found all out sales were legit because out fans are amazing and bought them. Don't discredit our fan base with false info." 

Scooter Braun, Bieber and Grande's manager, also weighed in on the back and forth. 

6ix9ine then took to IG once again. He posted a picture of himself holding 6 credit cards and captioned the post, "Don’t worry we going #1 next time."