Each music artist dreams of reaching the #1 spot on billboard’s charts. Yet some artists are desperate to reach the top as many times as they can. One clear example of this is Justin Bieber with his new single, Yummy. 

Yummy was released on January 3rd and currently holds the tenth place on Billboard’s charts, clearly it seems like Bieber isn’t satisfied with that. Over the span of his career, Bieber has had six singles reach the peak of the charts already, so it’s not a surprise that Bieber feels as though he deserves the top spot. 

His several attempts to advertise Yummy have come off as scummy and unethical. His tactics include begging his fans to stream his song on his Instagram story, created several unnecessary music videos for the song in attempts to flood YouTube recommended sections, and carelessly collaborated with any musical influencer that still holds relevancy. His most insincere attempt was asking his fans to play the song on repeat throughout the night, as they sleep.  

Selena Gomez has begged her fans to stream her new album as well, expressing specifically that she wanted the first place spot on the charts. There’s a disturbing desperation for success that has begun to outshine the need for authenticity in the music industry. Obviously, the need to be named as the best is more important than earning the title genuinely. 

This desperation seems to make music artists stop putting in full effort into each piece of art they create. Since they can just advertise their art over their largely followed social media, they don’t need to worry about gaining popularity or success with sincerely good pieces. This is clear with Justin Bieber’s Yummy, and how poorly written it is. 

Even though the future of the music industry seems bleak, the current first place spot reveals that there’s clear hope. Roddy Ricch holds the first place currently with The Box, with almost no previous fame. The Box is a genuinely well produced, thought out song that gained its popularity authentically. It’s proof that artists will always gain more positive attention by making good art than expecting their fans to give them the attention they want without delivering.