My Two Cents: Tidal accused of rigging the Billboard 200

It's been pretty competitive in the music world lately. On June 21st, Meek Mill, Lana Del Ray and Tyler, The Creator all released highly anticipated new albums. This caused a tight race to the prestigious Billboard number 1 spot.

While Lana Del Ray is no stranger to being number 1, for Meek Mill and Tyler, The Creator, debuting at the top spot on the charts would completely elevate both of their careers. It would be their very first number 1 album. With the stakes being so high, that can cause a lot of pressure...And a lot of pressure can make you do (and tweet) some crazy things. Inserting Tyler, The Creator's tweets here: 

Okay, so we all know Tidal's M.O, you GOTTA HAVE THE SUBSCRIPTION. Do you know how many times I had to create a new account to listen to Lemonade? Or the many search engines I scrolled down to finally watch the full video to Jay-Z's Moonlight? Nothing really comes easy when it's a Tidal exclusive...But, not so much this time. 

As a Roc Nation signee, Meek Mill's latest album, Wins & Losses wasn't a Tidal exclusive per se, but, after a long list of media pegged "L's," of course the Roc Nation/Tidal team would want to see Meek grab that coveted top spot. This may be why his album was available to stream FOR FREE which is very rare for Tidal's streaming service. This is also what opened the door for Tidal to be accused of using bots to boost the streaming numbers for Meek Mill.

Yes, streams are included when determining Billboard chart positions.

Not only that, but Roc Nation's founder and Tidal owner, Jay-Z is no stranger to a little chart manipulation. In 2013, Jay-Z signed a multimillion dollar deal with Samsung in which part of that deal was an outright purchase of a million copies of Jay-Z's then soon to be released album, Magna Carta Holy Grail. Such a deal was completely unheard of and ultimately secured the album's #1 debut before it was even released! Jay-Z signed a similar deal between Sprint and Tidal for 4:44 which was also a #1 album...Aaaand the same was done for Rihanna's album, Anti.

With all of that being said, Tyler, The Creator may be on to something! The accusation even caught the attention of Billboard and they decided to delay the new chart positions due to "technical issues." And my two cents?..Well, let us not forget that the mastermind behind Roc Nation and Tidal is not a businessman but a business, man! Jay-Z is smart and already made it clear in his 4:44 album that he's all about building an empire in a nontraditional way. I'm personally here for it.........

And Lana Del Ray got the #1 spot anyways.