Tekashi 6ix9ine is ripping Billboard's decision to allow artist merchandise to count toward record sales again, because he's claiming his success was the only reason it stopped doing that in the first place!!!
Billboard revealed Thursday its new rules would become effective on June 30 ... prompting Tekashi to share his own soured experiences.
Back in May 2020, Tekashi kicked off promotion for his sophomore album "Tattletales" with the single "Gooba," and accused Billboard of screwing with his numbers after its No. 3 debut ... while also alleging Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande's teams were buying their own releases to cheat the system.
Tekashi says he sold 3 million in merch for "Gooba" alone but was betrayed by Billboard, who later denied all wrongdoing, as did reps for the Biebz and Ariana.
A couple of years back, Nicki Minaj and Travis Scott faced similar controversies after Astroworld tour tickets influenced the top Billboard spot ... but Tekashi is telling his fans and haters alike they definitely made the change because of him.
Billboard is calling the newest rule change "fan packs," which allows for a limited number of merch items to be counted toward the album charts ... and Tekashi says it's all smoke and mirrors to make struggling artists appear bigger than they are.
The publication also highlighted a "day-long meeting" they conducted with record labels where one exec practically begged them to bring back artist bundles.
So yeah, expect the stat padding to be heavy this summer!!!