*After TMZ reported Sunday that Nelly is facing a hefty $2.4 million tax lien from the IRS, his fans sprung into action…thinking that enough people listening to his songs on streaming services will generate enough money to foot the bill.
The lien, filed in August, stems from unpaid taxes in 2013, TMZ reported. The St. Louis native owes $2,412,283 to Uncle Sam, and reportedly $149,511 to the state of Missouri. If Nelly doesn’t pay up, they could seize his assets and property. According to TMZ, sources close to the rapper say he’s working with tax authorities to resolve the issue.
Nevertheless, the hashtag #HotInHerreStreamingParty became a trending topic on Twitter, with backers pledging their support and offering suggestions:
pro tip: turn your phone to mute and put on “hot in herre” while you sleep tonight. 7 hours sleep = 110 plays #hotinherrestreamingparty
— jim jar-jarmusch (@bergmansbro) September 13, 2016
But how much streaming would it take to generate enough money to bail him out? Spin did the math.
In its article titled “Nelly Needs At Least 287,176,547 ‘Hot In Herre’ Streams to Pay Off His IRS Debt,” writer Brian Josephs broke it down:
Stream his stuff on Spotify. The Swedish company recently said that the payout for artists “per stream” lands between $0.006 and $0.0084. At the bare minimum, you’ll have to stream a Nelly joint 402,880,500 times to make a decent dent on his tax issues. If Nelly’s lucky enough to be on the $.0084 end of the royalty spectrum, the best case scenario sees you plugging through 287,176,547 streams. (Of course, the revenue has to also be divided between labels and publishers, but let’s hope they’ll be charitable herre.)
Dedicating hundreds of millions of streams seems like a titanic task, but there are Nelly fans everywhere to pitch in. If you don’t know any Nellyville residents, though, then you’ll have to dedicate at least 1,405,864,580 minutes to the cause. This is a big commitment, but ask yourself: Don’t you love Nelly?
Twitter took this story and ran to Spotify, encouraging others to do the same.
Soon enough, the #HotInHerreStreamingParty was lit:
Nelly helped you awkwardly grind on your first girlfriend during the homecoming dance. You owe him. #SaveNelly
— Dr. Steiner (@DocZeus) September 12, 2016
I turned on Hot in Herre on @AppleMusic and will leave it on repeat for the rest of the night. Join me #SaveNelly
— Martenzie Johnson (@Martenzie) September 12, 2016
Twitter just turned in to a block party with everyone playing #HotInHerre at once! #SaveNelly pic.twitter.com/uoLqn3EmSc
— A.C.H™ (@GoGoACH) September 12, 2016
We might not be able to save the country from Trump but we can #SaveNelly.
— Dr. Steiner (@DocZeus) September 12, 2016
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