Record companies representing stars like Rihanna, Justin Biber and Alicia Keys may not be as popular as they hoped - as YouTube wiped two billion "fake views" from their channels on the site video sharing site.
According to The Daily Dot, Universal Music's artists lost the most views, including singers such as will.i.am and Nicki Minaj, as the company lost one billion of its seven billion views.
Sony and artists like Rita Ora and Labrinth lost 850 million views.
Beyonce's YouTube channel has lost its 'fake views'
Sony/BMG now has a tiny total number of views, a mere 2.3 million.
The Daily Dot reported that other notable channels affected include the ones belonging to Michael Jackson, Chris Brown, Beyoncé, and Avril Lavigne.
YouTube statistics analysts at SocialBlade recorded the dramatic loss of views, after YouTube conducted an audit of its viewing figures to combat hackers building the numbers of views or likes on a YouTube video.
Chris Brown's YouTube channel is also said to have had its views 'inflated'
This enables them to make clips appear far more popular, increase their exposure and draw advertising revenue.
The official channel of X Factor winner Leona Lewis lost nearly 24 million page views,
YouTube said in a statement that the figures had been deliberately, artificially inflated. "This was not a bug or a security breach. This was an enforcement of our view count policy."
Universal acknowledged the sudden drop in views, and told the Daily Dot that the Universal Music Group channel, though popular, has been mostly dormant since the company shifted its focus to individual channels hosted on Vevo, which Universal founded in conjunction with Sony Music, Abu Dhabi Media Company, and E1 Entertainment in 2009.