Spotify Pushes Back on Kalshi and Polymarket After Song’s Chart Run Looked Rigged
Spotify has removed roughly 500,000 streams from Malcolm Todd’s song “Earrings” after the track’s sudden rise to the top of its US daily chart raised suspicions. The company asked Kalshi and Polymarket to remove its logo from their sites and clarify the absence of a partnership.
The streaming service identified bots as the primary source of these fraudulent plays, which occurred despite Spotify’s "best in class detection and mitigation practices."
The sudden surge in streams, climbing by nearly 70% between Sunday and Monday, was an 11.24 sigma event, making it statistically highly unlikely to have occurred randomly—a fingerprint, rather than a chart position.
Kalshi had listed a bet on which song would be the most streamed in the US during June, attracting $3 million in trading. Anyone who bought that outcome cheaply and watched it land stood to make around 20 times their stake.
Spotify emphasized that it does not pay out royalties tied to manipulated plays. A source at the company told The Hollywood Reporter that they will be adding additional checks to its charts before publication. Kalshi responded by stating they are "in touch with Spotify and actively investigating this matter."
This incident highlights growing concerns about manipulated content slipping through the cracks of streaming services’ charts.