The last laugh: Why Rebecca Black's much-derided YouTube video has already made her a fortune

The last laugh: Why Rebecca Black's much-derided YouTube video has already made her a fortune


She became a YouTube hit for all the wrong reasons after her heavily auto-tuned song went viral and attracted thousands of scathing comments from 'cyberbullies' last week.

But it turns out American teenager Rebecca Black may have the last laugh - because the video is making her a fortune.

According to the latest estimates the 13-year-old, dubbed the 'worst singer in the world', has made hundreds of thousands of dollars as her single soared up the iTunes chart.

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Last laugh: Teenage singer Rebecca Black is likely to have made a fortune after her much-maligned song soared up to iTunes charts

Last laugh: Teenage singer Rebecca Black is likely to have made a fortune after her much-maligned song soared up to iTunes charts

The YouTube video for her song, Friday, has already notched up an astonishing 33million views which could have netted her $20,000 alone, Forbes reports.

Music critics savaged the record - which is about a teenager getting ready for the weekend - and YouTube commentators were vicious, with some saying she deserved to die.

But her single has raced up the U.S. iTune chart, reaching 19th yesterday, according to her website. Today it sits at 33rd, above the likes of Katy Perry, Britney Spears and the Black Eyed Peas.

Forbes estimates those rankings would put her sales in the hundreds of thousands at least, although it originally reported they could have hit 2million.
YouTube sensation: Rebecca Black's heavily auto-tuned video has had more than 33million views on YouTube and could have made her rich

YouTube sensation: Rebecca Black's heavily auto-tuned video has had more than 33million views on YouTube and could have made her rich

According to 101 Distribution, an independent music distributor, iTunes pays out 70 cents for each single sold.
MUCH-MALIGNED: THE LYRICS TO 'FRIDAY'

7am, waking up in the morning
Gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs
Gotta have my bowl, gotta have cereal
Seein’ everything, the time is goin’
Tickin’ on and on, everybody’s rushin’
Gotta get down to the bus stop
Gotta catch my bus, I see my friends (My friends)

Kickin’ in the front seat
Sittin’ in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?

It’s Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend, weekend

Friday, Friday
Gettin’ down on Friday
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend

Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin’ forward to the weekend

That would give her earnings of at least $210,000 based on 300,000 sales, although the figure could be much higher, Forbes reports.

iTunes does not release exact sales figures.

Its YouTube estimate is based on figures from TechCrunch, which says 68 per cent of the advertising revenue generated by a video goes to an artist's record company.

In 2010, the site made $1 per thousand page views. After 33million views, Rebecca and her label Ark Music Factory will have made around $20,000.

Last the teenager admitted she cried when she read some of the negative comments online.

She told Good Morning America: '[The worst thing I've read was] I hope you cut yourself and I hope you get an eating disorder so you'll look pretty, and I hope you go cut and die.

'When I first saw all these nasty comments I did cry. I felt like this was my fault and I shouldn't have done this and this is all because of me. Now I don't feel that way.'

She sang the American national anthem to prove she could sing, and said she did not write the mocked lyrics.

Her mother paid $2,000 to the record label to produce the song and video, which was shot in her father's home with friends and family as extras.
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Defence: Rebecca Black sang the American national anthem on TV to prove she could sing, after critics panned her single Friday

She told the Daily Beast: 'Those hurtful comments really shocked me. At times, it feels like I'm being cyberbullied.'

But she defended the song and refused to take the video offline - a move which could prove financially astute.

Last week she said the money will go to her savings, her school theatre program and Japanese relief efforts.

She said: 'I just want to be able to keep doing what I love, which is singing.'