Why Nelly fans are streaming Hot in Herre en masse

The US rapper was reportedly hit with a bill for unpaid taxes

Listening party: Fans are desperately trying to help the rapper

Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty

Emma Powell14 September 2016

Nelly fans are streaming his hit single Hot in Herre in a bid to help the singer with his financial troubles.

Despite the single being a summer hit in 2002, fans are busily streaming the track after it was reported that the singer - real name Cornell Iral Haynes Jr - owes $2.5 million in unpaid taxes.

US site TMZ reported that the singer was hit with a bill from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for unpaid taxes dating back to 2013.

The St. Louis native also reportedly owes $149,511 in state taxes.

Nelly is reportedly working with authorities to resolve the money issues, but in a bid to help out the bandage loving musician, SPIN journalist Brian Josephs proposed that fans stream Hot in Herre so that Nelly can earn a sizable Spotify payout.

The music giant recently revealed that a payout for artists “per stream” makes between $0.006 and $0.0084, so Josephs has told fans to stream the song “402,880,500 times to make a decent dent on his tax issues”.

If Nelly is earning $0.0084, fans will only have to stream his song 287,176,547 times.

The hastags 'Save Nelly' and 'Hot In Herre Streaming Party' were soon trending on Twitter as fans rallied around to support the Country Grammar rapper.

The plight comes months after 50 Cent fans launched a 'piggy bank' to help the rapper boost his finances after he filed for bankruptcy.

The fundraising page encouraged fans to “click away his bankruptcy” by playing his 2005 song Piggy Bank on Spotify as the streaming service reportedly paid $0.0011 per play.