Spotify Removes Hundreds of Thousands of Streams From Malcolm Todd Song After Fraud Inquiry

Spotify has stripped over 500,000 streams from Malcolm Todd’s “Earrings” after an investigation confirmed artificial listening activity. The track had jumped to No. 1 on the platform’s global top 50, a position that one prediction market trader calculated had a 1 in 77 octillion probability of occurring randomly.

According to a WIRED report, the trader, Caleb Davies, filed a complaint with Spotify after spotting the anomaly. His interest stemmed from Kalshi, a betting platform where users can wager on music chart outcomes. Accusations soon surfaced that traders may have deployed bots to inflate the song’s numbers and sway those bets. Kalshi has said it is investigating, but no link between traders and the fake streams has been confirmed. Todd himself is not implicated.

Spotify’s removal of the streams dropped “Earrings”—from Todd’s 2024 mixtape Sweet Boy—to No. 10. The incident is the latest evidence that chart manipulation extends well beyond marginal releases. Two lawsuits currently allege that Drake used bots to amplify his streaming figures, claims he denies. And as outlets have previously documented, Billboard and iTunes charts have also been susceptible to rigging.

What makes this case distinct is the financial incentive layered on top of the music. When a betting market is involved, a synthetic hit doesn’t just game the charts—it turns listening data into a potential payout. The episode exposes a feedback loop that streaming platforms have been slow to address, even as the mechanics of fraud become public knowledge.