Gaga received negative press after reports of her attempting to artificially increase the single's placement in the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Some sources reported it as an attempt to beat the sales of "Roar".[43][44][45] Gaga was criticised for encouraging fans to purchase numerous copies of the single, with the chance to meet the singer in London offered as an incentive.[46][47][48][49]
She also received criticism when she tweeted a link to a YouTube playlist containing the "Applause" video on a 9-hour loop.[50][51][52] The tweet provoked critism by Billboard's Editorial Director Bill Werde, who said "An artist tweeting out and Facebooking a link that enables a fan to hit play and leave their computer is not in the spirit of what we chart".[53] He added that he "hate[d] to see anyone try to game the charts, be it fans or artists. It's not in the spirit of what we do, celebrating success."[50]
A bit of a mess at the Meryl Streep base getting closed and not even reaching page 3 while the Jolie base is still going strong + the Gravity trailer thread having as many comments as an ordinary Angelina thread on ATRL. Lord, the Maleficent trailer thread will probably get to like 50 pages. #1 actress of our generation and on ATRL. The Queen.