HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 431 [431] What is true luck?! The Grammys announce the nominees!

Before November, Jay Chou's "Ye Huimei" was widely recognized as the most popular album of the year.

The number of copies sold in Taiwan exceeded 100,000 in the first three days of release. The first batch of 30,000 copies in Hong Kong sold out quickly, and the 600,000 copies distributed in mainland China also sold out quickly.

That's why the industry dared to estimate that this album could sell three million copies during its sales lifespan.

In 01, when physical record sales were declining, it was already incredibly strong for an album to sell this many copies.

If you're shameless enough, you can just release a press release later boasting that you've sold eight million copies across Asia.

This is how Zhang Huimei's 99 album "Can I Hold You, My Love?" was marketed. It sold over three million official copies across Asia, but was claimed to have sold eight million.

In any case, upon closer examination, this data isn't exactly exaggerated, and considering the presence of piracy, this number is indeed substantial.

After the first-day sales figures for "Wish for Rain in an Empty Mountain" were released, "Ye Huimei" lost its title as the strongest album of 01, and "Ye Huimei" didn't even have the ability to put up a fight.

Warner Music disclosed that the first-day sales figures for "Wishful Thinking" showed that mainland China accounted for the majority, with 531001 copies sold, Taiwan 127000 copies, Hong Kong 94020 copies, and other countries and regions combined 209300 copies.

Of these, about 2000 were sold in the United States, likely by overseas Chinese or international students.

The album sold over 96 copies on its first day.

The Taiwanese market was not conducive to promotion, and sales were lower than Qi Yuan's fourth album. However, Qi Yuan expanded into the South Korean and Japanese markets, making up for the difference.

This first-day sales surpassed those of Qi Yuan's fourth album, "As You Wish".

When "As You Wish" was released, it sold approximately 95 copies on its first day of release, which was a year and a half ago.

A year and a half later, the physical record market has shrunk by at least 20%, yet Qi Yuan's new album still sold more on its first day than it did a year and a half ago.

Countless colleagues in the industry couldn't help but question, "Is there no law anymore?"
To be honest, Qi Yuan's fifth album actually saw a decrease in sales compared to her fourth album.

This is unavoidable; the market is shrinking rapidly at a rate of about 20% per year. This is the general trend, and no one can change it.

Why did Qi Yuan's fifth album sell more copies on its first day than her fourth album?
The reason is simple: firstly, Qi Yuan's influence has increased, and she has more fans.

The events in the rock scene brought a lot of attention and buzz to Qi Yuan's album.

Most importantly, Qi Yuan's album is a great value. For the same price, the number of songs has increased to fourteen, making it arguably the first genuine album for young people.

With so many buffs stacked up, it's not surprising at all that Qi Yuan's fifth album sales figures are better than her fourth album.

……

Taiwan.

Although Warner Music is not allowed to promote Qi Yuan's album, and the media is not allowed to publish Qi Yuan's first-day sales report, everyone in the industry knows what's going on.

They thought that by imposing restrictions on Qi Yuan, they could break one of Qi Yuan's wings.

As it turns out, they took themselves too seriously. The tens of thousands of shares that fell in the Taiwan market were easily recovered by Qi Yuan from other markets.

Their restrictions only limited their loneliness.

Countless singers and record companies are privately cursing the people who came up with these ideas as complete idiots!
Why did you provoke him? He originally planned to release his fifth album early next year, leaving the entire year of 01 open for Hong Kong and Taiwanese singers to share the Golden Melody Awards.

Now look what's happened. Qi Yuan has shot himself in the foot by releasing his Chinese album ahead of schedule. Will he be awarded the Golden Melody Award next year?

If they don't give it to us, then the Golden Melody Awards are a joke.

The most prestigious award, Best Album, should absolutely go to Chi Yuan. Otherwise, the Golden Melody Awards will become a joke because it won't be convincing at all.

At most, they can only squeeze out a few awards like Best Male Vocalist and Best Album Producer to give to singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan. If Qi Yuan really maintains the frequency of releasing two albums a year, and the quality of each album is this high, then singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan can forget about winning Best Album in their lifetime.

When Chou Chieh-lun and Wang Li-hong saw the sales figures of Qi Yuan's fifth album, they once again felt a deep sense of frustration.

If the Taiwanese media had used the success of their album to artificially elevate their status and widen the gap between them and Qi Yuan from 10000 meters to 9998 meters, then the release of the album "Wish for Rain in the Empty Mountains" directly widened the gap from 9998 meters to 10500 meters.

That's right, the gap between them and Qi Yuan has widened even further.

Wang Lihong, in particular, is quite upset. His song "The Only One" is a hit, but the album sales are only so-so. It hasn't even sold 100,000 copies in Taiwan since its release.

Qi Yuan sold 12.7 copies on the first day, surpassing his sales of one or two months' worth in just one day.

……

Warner Music began spending lavishly in Hong Kong and mainland China, and a large amount of news about Qi Yuan and "Wish for Rain in the Empty Mountains" began to enter people's field of vision.

[Same price, more songs, now fourteen! More for the same price! Your first official album!]

[Amidst a continued decline in the physical record market, Qi Yuan's new album "Wishing for Rain in the Empty Mountains" has defied the trend, achieving impressive market results!]

[First-day sales reached an astonishing 96 copies, with estimated sales reaching 500 to 600 million copies, double the previous media predictions for "Ye Huimei" sales.]

[Qi Yuan's autograph session in Beijing was a huge success! Qi Yuan signed over two thousand records in two hours]

……

The success of "Wishing for Rain in the Empty Mountains" has already surprised Qi Yuan's fans enough, and has also made the industry and media re-recognize Qi Yuan's market appeal.

At the same time, good news came from the United States across the ocean: the nominees for the 44th Grammy Awards were announced.

"Wishing for Rain in an Empty Mountain" has been showered with multiple benefits in the country.

"23" is also packed with buffs in the United States.

In previous years, a troublemaker like Qi Yuan, who wouldn't kneel down to win an award and even dared to make sarcastic remarks about the Grammys, would have been blacklisted by now.

However, Qi Yuan caught a good time: China's successful bid for the Olympics, 9/11, and the near completion of its accession to the WTO.

At this point in time, even if the Grammys don't want to award Qi Yuan, there will be people in the US who will force them to give him the award; that's called incredible luck.

This year's shortlist proves that Qi Yuan's judgment was correct.

The Grammys were incredibly generous, awarding Qi Yuan nominations in all four major categories: Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist.

The category nominations include Popular Music, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Pop Male Artist.

With a total of six nominations, the Grammys practically made it clear that they were going to announce it directly.

Dogecoin Warner, hurry up and hire someone for public relations, hurry up and send the money. It's a bit much if you're not willing to spend money on public relations.

When the Grammy nominations were announced to Asia, the entire Asian music scene went wild.

The Golden Melody Awards were tough, and the Grammys will make things even more difficult for them next year.

Japanese media lamented: "The music emperor of China has conquered the American music scene and the Grammys, while our most talented and top-notch musician, Utada Hikaru, is busy dating. I feel sorry for Utada Hikaru's downfall, and I also feel sorry for the Japanese music scene."

The South Koreans next door to the neon lights are rummaging through ancient books, trying to find evidence that Qi Yuan's ancestors were South Koreans.

(End of this chapter)