WHEN Chinese superstar Kris Wu released his album “Antares” on Nov. 2 via Interscope Records it saw quick success on the U.S. iTunes sales chart with tracks soon occupying the top seven song rankings. Once Ariana Grande’s new single, “thank u, next,” dropped Nov. 3, Wu was regulated to a still-impressive seven of the top eight spots on the chart, but even then still managed to block Grande from the No. 1 slot.

While Wu is a household name in China, he’s relatively unknown in the United States. The former member of boy band EXO who has had acting roles in American and Chinese films made headlines in April when he signed a global deal with Universal Music Group, and his recognition has grown since. But such dominance from a foreign act still raised eyebrows and led to speculation online and in the music industry that Wu gamed the system to dominate the iTunes sales chart reported to Nielsen, the data provider for Billboard’s charts.

Wu’s streaming figures are relatively low, with just over 1 million monthly listeners reported on Spotify — which is not available in China — and his top “Antares” tracks on the platform performing well but not exceptionally so. His top track “Deserve” featuring Travis Scott dropped nearly a month ago and has almost 24 million streams, while Grande’s “Thank U, Next” already has over 29 million streams on Spotify.

Grande’s manager, Scooter Braun, was among those wondering how Wu managed to drive his sales to such heights. On Wednesday, Braun posted to Instagram that he and Wu had spoken and he wanted to clear up any “rumors” that had come out about them both.

According to Braun’s post, it was explained to him and Wu that because Wu’s release was held back in China to coincide with his birthday Tuesday that his fans there “went and got the music any way they could and that was U.S. iTunes.”

“Billboard and Nielsen Music are working closely to ensure both the accuracy and legitimacy of the sales volumes being reported for Kris Wu this week,” a Nielsen rep said in a statement, speaking as Billboard’s data provider. (SD-Agencies)