Chinese-Canadian rapper Kris Wu recently sparked controversy on Twitter after he beat Ariana Grande on the top charts of iTunes.
Twitter users kept asking "Who is Kris Wu" after four of his songs hogged the top four places, while Ariana Grande's debut, "Thank u, next," ranked fifth, Chinese entertainment news portal NetEase reported on Monday.
Wu had seven songs in the Top 10 of the U.S. iTunes. His "November Rain" was purchased 14 million times in 24 hours, or 1,750 times greater than "Shallow," a song by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, the report said.
"The sales results could be very authentic. It is normal for Kris' fans to make purchases several times per person to support their idol. They can afford it," a Beijing-based k-pop fangirl surnamed Hu told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Scooter Braun, Ariana Grande's manager, reportedly questioned the authenticity of Wu's popularity, tweeting "he is using bots… they will handle it and we are not worried. It's unfortunate but you can't stop Ari," according to a screen grab circulated online.
He then tweeted on Sunday denying he had ever made the post. "There is a fake tweet going around."
Relevant posts have been removed from Braun's Twitter page as of press time.
"Thank u, next" was #1 on the U.S. iTunes chart as of press time. Wu's songs were nowhere to be found among the Top 200.
"His fans support his new album to give him the best birthday gift, but it is really funny to be misunderstood as a robot," one of Wu's fans "YiXIAYE_" tweeted on Sunday.
Born on November 6, 1990, Wu has 158,000 followers on Twitter and 44.7 million followers on China's Sina Weibo.
