Justin Bieber‘s arrest for DUI and drag racing in Miami Beach, Fla., earlier this week was bad news for the “Baby” singer — but it certainly made for robust business on Twitter.
News of Bieber’s arrest caused a Twitter explosion, according to data provided by TLL. Which may not be surprising — but the extent to which news of Bieber’s arrest dominated the Twitterverse is rather jarring.
See photos and video: Justin Bieber Arrest: 6 Bizarre Developments Since the Singer Was Sprung From the Slammer
According to Timeline Labs, in the 24 hour timeframe running from 4 a.m. ET on Thursday — when news of Bieber’s arrest first broke — to 4 a.m. ET on Friday, Bieber’s legal scrape generated 4,288,580 tweets.
The Bieber arrest also dominated the Top 10 hashtags for the time period, with sentiment divided along pro-Bieber and anti-Bieber lines. #WeWillAlwaysSupportYouJustin topped the hashtag list, with 596,783 uses, followed by #FreeBieber, which had 138,304 mentions.
Also read: Justin Bieber’s DUI Arrest: Exploitation by Miami Beach PD Or Masterful Use of Social Media?
On the anti-Bieber side of things, #DeportBieber was third on the list with 86,842 mentions, and #MonstersSupportBeliebers — a reference to Bieber’s fanbase — was fourth with 43,214 mentions during the 24-hour time period.
Of the biggest Bieber tweets in that 24-hour time period, “Pineapple Express” star Seth Rogen found himself at the top of the heap with the sentiment, “All jokes aside, Justin Bieber is a piece of shit. ”
See photos: Justin Bieber Mugshots, DUI Arrest Report Released: ‘I Ain’t Got No F–king Weapons’
“Supernatural” star Jared Padalecki also found himself among the top tweets with the humorous observation, “Just saw the mugshot of @justinbieber. I gotta admit, she’s kinda hot without all of her usual makeup on…”
Bieber, 19, was released after posting a $2,500 bond. The singer fired up his Twitter account on Friday to thank his fans, writing, “YOU ARE ALL WORTHY NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE SAYS. BE STRONG GOD IS WITH US ALL. MY BELIEBERS CHANGED MY LIFE, I WILL FOREVER BE GRATEFUL.”
As of this writing, that post has received 315,475 retweets.