A video allegedly belonging to the British magazine New Musical Express is being circulated online. They say, according to YouTube Music statistics for 2023, Ukrainian musicians have been supplanted by Russian performers, in particular Basta, Aigel, Katia Lel, Instasamka and American singer Taylor Swift. However, it turned out to be a fake video.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found that New Musical Express magazine had not released such ratings. In fact, Ukrainian performers are leading the official YouTube Music rankings in Ukraine. It's important to note that Taylor Swift does not appear in this ranking.

The VoxCheck 2023 study showed that in January and February, Russian artists temporarily made it into the top 5, but throughout the year, the leadership belonged to Ukrainian artists. This indicates that the statement about the advantage of Russian musicians is not objective. Also, according to public research, most Ukrainians avoided Russian-language content, indicating changes in cultural preferences during the war.

Propagandists spread such fake news to create a false impression of the superior status of Russian culture compared to Ukrainian culture, even in times of war. Like, Ukrainians really love Russian more because Ukrainian is a surrogate.