Huayu: The Unbelievable Matching Mechanism of Jay Chou's Love Songs

On the night F4's first concert ended, a major event occurred: Feng Zheng, one of the most controversial members of F4, suddenly released his first solo album without any warning.

Normally, whether it's a newcomer or a veteran singer, before releasing an album, they need to promote it on radio charts or do some "pre-release activities"...

However, Feng Zheng's self-titled debut album, titled "Zheng," received almost no promotion. Even his boss, Wu Zongxian, known for his outspokenness, didn't mention it once on variety shows, keeping his mouth shut.

Surprisingly, almost everyone who went to the F4 concert that day, both inside and outside the venue, had a copy of Feng Zheng's record!

The next day, this news appeared on the front page of entertainment news:

"#F4 Feng Zheng's first solo album sold out instantly!"

Then, an entertainment-oriented television program broadcast a street interview with fans who had gone to the F4 concert that day and bought Feng Zheng's album.

The female fan had long hair and a sweet, innocent look. She wasn't particularly excited even when mentioning memorable moments from F4's concerts, but when it came to Feng Zheng's debut solo album, she looked utterly amazed and said:

"It's no exaggeration to say that I think Feng Zheng is undoubtedly the most talented man in the Chinese music scene of the new century. His talent is no less than that of Qi Qin and Li Zongsheng. I estimate that he will sweep all the awards this year, including the Golden Melody Awards, IFPI, and the Chinese Music Awards."

Upon hearing this, not only the audience but even the host was somewhat shocked. Although they didn't explicitly ask, they were secretly muttering to themselves:

"Is it really that good?"

At this moment, a passerby entered the frame and shouted, "The food is excellent! I strongly recommend everyone buy a copy of Feng Zheng's album and give it a listen!"

The host gave an awkward laugh, then went to interview other people, and unsurprisingly...

Almost everyone is raving about Feng Zheng's solo album!

That's an exaggeration!

Exaggerated and extravagant!

Although his surname is not "Hua", everyone still wants to praise him as the leading figure in the entire Chinese music scene!

Feng Zheng had been targeted by Chai Zhiping who bought articles to smear him. Before this, most of the news about Feng Zheng was attacking him, so the audience was not used to the sudden praise of him.

"Is it really that good?"

This is a question that many viewers subconsciously have.

An album isn't exactly cheap. Although many young people nowadays have the habit of buying original copies, Feng Zheng has been involved in too many controversies in the past, which has led many people to hesitate to buy it immediately, even if they are curious, for fear of losing money. Instead, they go to borrow it from friends who have bought it.

It's okay if you don't listen, but once you do, you'll be hooked!

Then they rushed to record stores, supermarkets, and other channels overnight to snatch up albums!

I can't sleep at night and can't sit still if I don't buy it!

then……

That's all...

Feng Zheng's debut solo album has sparked a series of "sales frenzy" in the Taiwan region!

In fact, Wu Zongxian had already provided enough merchandise for Feng Zheng. Normally, singers release albums mostly in Taiwan, since that is the "main battlefield." However, Wu Zongxian distributed merchandise for Feng Zheng all over the island!

As a result, even the budget for promoting Jay Chou was cut...

Even so, the album's sales far exceeded their expectations.

Wu Zongxian has distributed approximately 500,000 albums for Feng Zheng, which is actually quite... quite exaggerated, considering that the highest album sales in 2000 were only around 420,000 to 430,000 copies.

The era of "physical records" is over since the millennium. Piracy, such as PM3 and online downloads, is rampant. The sales figures of physical records have been halved compared to the 90s. The so-called "million-selling albums" are a thing of the past. After all, who doesn't love getting something for free?

Therefore, Wu Zongxian roughly estimates that Feng Zheng's album will only sell around 50 copies at most.

However, the data that came out shocked everyone!

On the day the "first week sales" were released, Feng Zheng, at Liu Genghong's invitation, went to Wu Zongxian's company to watch them.

In this era, album release data was not calculated based on "first day," but rather on "first week," "one month," "two months," and "end of the year," with a full year as a complete sales cycle. Therefore, the most exciting data was the "first week sales."

Before 99, the authoritative media for checking record sales around the world was "IFPI", the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, a global music industry organization established in 1933.

Its core functions include: tracking and certifying record sales, setting industry standards, combating piracy and copyright infringement, and negotiating copyright revenue on behalf of record companies and streaming platforms, etc.

From 95 to 99, fans used this website's charts to check artists' sales. However, starting in 99, piracy became increasingly rampant, and the website's statistical methods had fatal flaws, which led to the distortion of its charts and triggered a crisis of trust in the industry. The official response was straightforward: they issued an announcement stating that "due to the excessively high proportion of the piracy market, the charts can no longer reflect the true market situation" and directly suspended the charts.

The organization behind it, RIT, now only does record sales certification, such as 5 gold records, 10 platinum records, and 20 double platinum records, which can also be considered a statistical method.

Wu Zongxian didn't have high expectations for Feng Zheng's first-week sales, only hoping for a gold record certification. After all, the hottest album this year only achieved a gold record of 5 copies in its first week.

Piracy is rampant!

Therefore, when the website released a new round of "Gold Record Certification", Wu Zongxian, Yang Junrong, Liu Genghong, Zhou Jielun and others basically all focused their attention on it.

But no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find Feng Zheng's name on it...

"No?! No???"

Wu Zongxian was completely stunned!

The scene was just like the day Jay Chou released his album, when they were searching the entire charts for his name...

They had high expectations for Jay Chou at the time, but unfortunately, Jay Chou's album sales in the first week were dismal, with only five or six thousand copies sold. After all, he was a newcomer and his musical style was relatively niche. If it weren't for the later promotion on campuses and word-of-mouth, he would have had no chance to survive.

To put it bluntly, Jay Chou's albums rely on a long-term build-up of word-of-mouth, not just a strong debut.

But Feng Zheng is, after all, part of F4, and Wu Zongxian has recently done so much "promotion" for him; his albums are also being snapped up everywhere in Taiwan lately...

Despite such high expectations, his first-week sales didn't even earn him a gold record.

No way!

"...Maybe you'll get more than 49,000, or maybe you'll be unlucky and not get 50,000?" Yang Junrong patted Wu Zongxian on the shoulder to comfort him.

Wu Zongxian nodded, though he didn't say anything, his face betrayed his disappointment.

At this point, they no longer planned to check Feng Zheng's record sales with RIT, but instead intended to look at other channels, such as TV stations and radio stations, to see if there were any more specific sales figures on the chain charts of the five major record stores.

But it was at this moment...

Jay Chou glanced at the "Platinum Record Certification" sign out of the corner of his eye.

He hadn't looked, but when he did, his eyes widened and he gasped!

In his haste, Jay Chou even stammered:

"Brother Xian... Brother Xian, Platinum Certification!"

……