MUMBAI: A host of pop stars have suffered a huge cut in the number of views on video sharing site YouTube.

Following an audit conducted by YouTube to clear any old videos, over 2 billion views were wiped out. Lady Gaga saw her official YouTube account reduced by 156 million views. Other big label artists who suffered the wipeout included Michael Jackson, Chris Brown and Beyonce. 

A large amount of ‘dead’ videos- clipped that are no longer viewed or used by the artists- have also been removed.

YouTube originally decided to conduct an audit of the site after speculating that hackers had boosted certain artists' views using count-building techniques, report said.

Videos from artists' original accounts, after the clips had been redistributed to their official VEVO pages.

YouTube spokesperson has said, “This was not a bug or a security breach. This was an enforcement of our view count policy.”

Meanwhile, Lady Gaga is currently working on her new album 'ARTPOP' and recently confirmed she is recording a Jazz record with legend Tony Bennett.