Young Thug admitted in a leaked jailhouse phone call that he spent $50,000 on fake streams to push Gunna to No. 1 over The Weeknd and considered doing the same with his own album to outpace country star Morgan Wallen.
The audio, which surfaced on Sunday (August 31), captures the Atlanta rapper speaking with his manager about manipulating streaming numbers to boost his album, Business Is Business, to the top of the charts.
Thug was frustrated that Wallen’s numbers were blocking his path to a No. 1 debut.
In the call, Thug urged his manager to contact “that plug” to help inflate the numbers. The manager replied, “I’m not gonna sleep until we beat him. Whatever happens.”
“Beat then boy then tell the boy, ‘You can’t beat me, join me,'” Thug said, joking about surpassing Wallen and then trying to get him on a track.
Young Thug’s Manager promising to buy streams for young thug’s “Business is Business” so that he can outsell Morgan Wallen for the #1 on the billboard 200 chart😂☝🏾
— GUNNA DAILY💙 (@Gunnnaupdates) August 31, 2025
“Go ahead & do that boy”- Young Thug pic.twitter.com/hQum8mqVzy
Young Thug Claims He Bought Gunna’s Win Over The Weeknd With Fake Streams
In another leaked call, Thug also referenced using the same method to help Gunna’s DS4EVER album edge out The Weeknd’s Dawn FM on the Billboard 200.
“You’re not doing numbers like that,” he said of Gunna. “The number one album you just had right now, I paid for you to have the number one album. You didn’t honestly earn a number one album over The Weeknd, my boy. I paid for that s###. I never said anything; I never told him that, because we just got the plug on it. Like, you never earned a number one album. I spent 50 extra grand buying m############ streams. $50,000 buying streams for you.”
Thug also mentioned that CashXO, The Weeknd’s manager, knew the same people and “coulda did the same thing.”
Young Thug admits he and CashXO were both botting streams for Gunna & The Weeknd, but CashXO eventually gave up. Remember Gunna beat out Dawn FM? Drake case seems more legit by the day, all this s### is manipulated. pic.twitter.com/y7dxDwz6kf
— Hip-Hop Unison (@hiphopunison) August 31, 2025
The leak is the latest in a string of audio clips tied to the YSL RICO case, which has already included police interrogations and phone calls that stirred tension within the crew.