The Canadian crooner faces the allegation after Billboard says in a statement that they delayed publishing the Billboard 200 albums chart due to some 'suspicious' sales numbers.
- Jan 19, 2022
AceShowbiz - The Weeknd has found support in his fans. As the Canadian crooner is seemingly accused of faking "Dawn FM" sales number, his online devotees were quick to jump to his defense.
While the singer's 2020 album "After Hours" had a 444,000 opening week, his latest record only amassed 148,000. He failed to make it to the top of Billboard 200 albums chart as Gunna became the leader with "DS4EVER" after earning 150,300 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending January 13, according to MRC Data.
On Monday night, January 17, Billboard said in a statement that they had to postpone the publication of the chart due to some "suspicious" sales numbers. "...In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious and unverifiable is disqualified prior to the final calculation. This can cause delays in publishing," @chartdata quoted the outlet as saying on Twitter.
DJ Akademiks then posted a screenshot of the tweet on Instagram. In the accompaniment of the post, he wondered, "Y Billboard playin wit my mans The Weeknd like was faking sales or sumn."
Fans were quick to defend The Weeknd. "He was supposed to sell 152k and sold 148k I don't think he would fake 4K sales," one person opined, with another commenting, "They don't like the Weekend. Never has. Grammys don't either." A third added, "N***a wasn't buying sales N***as just don't like weeknd and wanted gunna to get his number one."
Although The Weeknd didn't land at No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 album chart, he scored his eighth Top 10 album with the 16-track album. The "emotionally detrimental" record itself arrived on January 7.
"Dawn FM" consists of the title track, "Gasoline", "How Do I Make You Love Me?", his 2021 single "Take My Breath", "Sacrifice", "Out of Time" and "Best Friends". It also includes "A Tale By Quincy" featuring Quincy Jones.
Jim Carrey, meanwhile, gave his contribution to "Phantom Regret by Jim". Tyler, the Creator is featured on "Here We Go... Again", while Lil Wayne is featured on "I Heard You're Married". Oneohtrix Point Never, Swedish House Mafia, Calvin Harris and Max Martin are also seen in the credits.
