Fans of Nelly are streaming his music online on repeat in an effort to help him with his reported tax troubles.

Fans of rapper Nelly are streaming his music online on repeat in an effort to help him with his reported tax troubles.

Officials at America's Internal Revenue Service served Nelly with a massive federal tax lien in August (16), and the news of his huge bill emerged in reports at the weekend - the Hot in Herre hitmaker owes a reported $2 million (£1.5 million) to the government.

Additionally, bosses at the Missouri Department of Revenue claim he owes them almost $150,000 (£113,000) in unpaid state taxes from 2013.

Sources close to Nelly tell TMZ.com he's working with the tax authorities to resolve the issues, but his devoted fans are also taking action the best way they know how - by listening to his music.

Editors at Spin magazine led the charge, suggesting in an article that Nelly needs to accrue at least 287 million streams of his songs to raise the appropriate funds, based on a report from Spotify executives, who previously estimated artists average between $0.006 and $0.0084 per stream.

With hits such as Hot In Herre, Country Grammar, Ride Wit Me, and others, fans took to social media to show their support and prove they are streaming Nelly's tracks.

One Twitter user wrote, "We can Save Nelly because he once saved our summer playlists #GetNellyOutofDebtParty," while another even made a handy playlist, writing, "Nelly needs us... I made a playlist of 8 hours of Hot in Herre for you to play while you sleep #DoItForNelly."