YouTube Star Gets a Hit by Turning Rap Song Into Piano Ballad on 'The Voice'

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By Brian Anthony Hernandez2014-04-29 22:25:54 UTC

YouTube sensation Christina Grimmie, a finalist on NBC's The Voice , transformed a song by rapper Drake into a beautiful piano ballad during Monday's live episode.

Now, the studio version of her performance has soared to No. 4 on the iTunes top-songs chart. The Voice counts iTunes sales as votes, but when a contestant breaks into the chart's top 10, the singer's sales total is multiplied by five, and then added into the overall votes. Grimmie's ranking will help her avoid getting eliminated on Tuesday's results show.

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Grimmie's performance earned rave reviews from her coach Adam Levine, as well as fellow coaches Shakira, Usher and Blake Shelton.

Scandal's leading lady Kerry Washington even gave Grimmie kudos on Twitter:

Grimmie broke onto the YouTube scene in 2009 when she began uploading videos of herself performing cover songs on a keyboard in her bedroom with a Sonic the Hedgehog poster behind her. Since then, her videos have racked up nearly 270 million views.

Grimmie, who has a much bigger online following than any other finalist on The Voice (2.6 million subscribers on YouTube), encouraged her Twitter followers to purchase the song to keep her in the competition. And on Tuesday, she rejoiced as she watched it climb the iTunes chart:

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Topics: Christina Grimmie, drake, Entertainment, Music, the-voice, Television

Image: Tyler Golden/NBC