Rebecca Black's 'Friday' fortune: By the numbers

Rebecca Black has drawn plenty of scorn for her headache-inducing single "Friday," which took the internet by storm last week. (See the painfully catchy video below.) But as much as her detractors may hate to admit it, the media glare surrounding the 13-year-old singer has produced at least one notable benefit: It's making her some serious money. Between her single's ascendancy on iTunes and its mega-popularity on YouTube, "Friday" is proving that a bad song can make very good money. Here's a look at the windfall, by the numbers:

$2,000

Amount Black's mother paid to ARK Music Factory, a vanity recording outfit, to produce the video

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

38,579,640

Number of YouTube views for Black's video as of this writing

495,682,499

Number of views for Justin Bieber's "Baby," the current record-holder

2 to 1

Odds the British betting agency Ladbrokes offers for "Friday" to become the most-viewed YouTube video ever

1

Rough amount, in dollars, that YouTube grosses per 1,000 pageviews, based on 2010 numbers

68 percent

Amount of that YouTube ad revenue that goes to "content creators"

$26,000

What Black and ARK music factory have made from YouTube so far

1,300 percent

Return on Black's initial investment, based on YouTube income alone

42

Where Black's single falls on the iTunes chart as of Wednesday

70 cents

Amount iTunes pays for each single sold

37,000

Number of times "Friday" was downloaded last week, according to Billboard

98,000

Number of downloads for Adele, the #1 artist for the week

$24,900

Amount Billboard estimates Black is making a week on iTunes royalties

Sources: Doipod, Daily Mail, NME, New York Times, Billboard (2)