Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber have defended themselves after rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine accused them of buying the number one spot on the US chart.
The rapper claimed the pop stars had bought tens of thousands of copies of their charity single Stuck With U to boost its position.
He also said some streams of his song Gooba were improperly discounted, leaving it in third place on the chart.
Grande, Bieber and chart compilers Billboard have all denied the claims.
Bieber called the rapper’s accusations “a lie”, while Grande advised him to “take a moment to humble yourself”.
Billboard posted a lengthy article refuting each of his points while explaining how the chart positions were calculated.
“Overall, Stuck With U drew 28.1 million US streams, 26.3 million in radio airplay audience and 108,000 sold in the tracking week,” it explained.
“Gooba had 55.3 million US streams, 172,000 in radio airplay audience and 24,000 sold.
“Those sums resulted in the songs’ respective rankings on this week’s Hot 100.”
Source:Â bbc.com