Russ Says That Billboard & Major Record Labels Robbed Him Of Album Sales

Russ' latest album Santiago had a strong showing on the Billboard 200 charts, debuting at number 12. 

But according to the New Jersey-born rapper, Billboard and major record labels robbed him of sales, in what he calls a normal practice in the music industry.

Billboard & Luminate took away ANOTHER 4,000 of my REAL sales over the weekend making that 10,000 sales total they took away from me while allowing major labels to fake their streams and sales and do monopolistic merch bundles (only major labels are allowed to do merch bundles… https://t.co/lH06KpNLM4

— SANTIAGO (@russdiemon) August 28, 2023

🗣🗣🗣🗣

I don’t think y’all realize how nuts this is…Billboard charts are inflated by fake data which is being verified by only one company, Luminate

Both Billboard & Luminate are owned by the same company 🤦🏻‍♂️

Anyway imma sit back and watch Milan expose the whole shit… https://t.co/0FOmTN6OoS

— SANTIAGO (@russdiemon) August 28, 2023

"Billboard & Luminate took away ANOTHER 4,000 of my REAL sales over the weekend making that 10,000 sales total they took away from me while allowing major labels to fake their streams and sales and do monopolistic merch bundles (only major labels are allowed to do merch bundles because the only approved vendor is a major label vendor)," he tweeted. "These numbers and charts are made up ... The impact however is not Shoutout to the fans."

"I don’t think y’all realize how nuts this is," Russ tweeted later. “Billboard charts are inflated by fake data which is being verified by only one company, Luminate. Both Billboard & Luminate are owned by the same company."

While Billboard restricted bundles a few years back, there are now exceptions to the rule.  Travis Scott's four-week run atop the album chart with Utopia has been heavily fueled by bundles.