Chapter 311: The First Person to Launch a Sister into the Immortal Realm in the Chinese Music Industry

Alex Needham, Editor-in-Chief of the UK's NME Music Magazine: "Spikezhou: The Chinese Man Who Conquered America"

Chris Ayers, Reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine: "One of the Most Unbelievable Albums of the 21st Century: The Attitude Show"

Sal Cinquemani, Reporter for the US Online Publication Slant Magazine: "A Man Born to Win — The Music Cowboy from the Far East!"

Edna Gunderson, Long-time Music Critic for USA Today: "A Day Written into the History of American Pop: Our Castle Has Been Captured!"

David Brown, Reporter for Entertainment Weekly: "Spikezhou, a Rampant Man"

"..."

A situation no musician had ever imagined before became reality under Warner's extremely official announcement.

Following this came increasingly heated discussions about Zhou Yi—

Disdainful, abusive, worshipful, loving, and passing-by.

This day was destined to belong solely to Zhou Yi.

And in a corner attended by only a few, Canadian female singer Avril Lavigne was staring blankly at the freshly released charts—

On the Billboard chart a week ago, her single "Complicated" was ranked 51st;

After her extremely hard work—working so hard that she basically slept only about five hours a day, with the rest of the time spent either doing promotions or on the way to do promotions—"Complicated" successfully rose to rank 56 on the singles chart.

A textbook case of reverse charting.

The punk girl, not yet eighteen, was starting to crack—biting her lip in grievance, blinking hard to keep her little pearls from falling.

According to normal data calculations, she should have broken into the top forty this week no matter what.

But alas, a Zhou Yi who recognized no rules appeared—

Where originally only two songs had debuted on the charts, now an entire album had made the list.

Then, because Zhou Yi surged so fiercely that he pushed the songs ranked above him down, those songs that shifted down step by step pushed her, who was struggling to move forward, down as well...

What kind of thing is this?

She didn't understand, didn't understand why God would let such a terrifying man burst onto the scene right as her career was starting, forcibly interrupting her struggle.

No! I won't accept it!

The punk girl with smoky eye makeup picked up her microphone again, swearing to fight her way back—

I can still do promotions! My song's growth is actually very good, and my album sells very well too!

The future is promising!

"Look, Warner has announced Spike's global sales!"

Avril, who hadn't walked two steps, was called back by her manager to learn the real situation about this man.

Because of delays in Asian channel statistics and coordination, Warner, which had previously been unable to timely combine first-day sales from the Asian region for calculation, took advantage of this likable day to reveal all of Zhou Yi's achievements at once—

"The Attitude Show" first-day sales in Japan were 126,425 copies, and in South Korea 64,646 copies;

First-day sales in China were 453,794 copies: including over 156,000 in Taiwan, 53,000 in Hong Kong, 30,000 in Macau, and over 210,000 on the mainland.

Thanks to the fact that this World Cup was being held in Japan and South Korea, Zhou Yi's new album received sky-high level promotion in almost all East Asian countries, and his performance at the World Cup closing ceremony pushed his first-day album sales to a peak—

Just the combined first-day total sales of China, Japan, and South Korea exceeded 640,000 copies.

Adding sales of ten or twenty thousand in countries like Singapore and Malaysia, and sales of a few thousand or a few hundred in countries like Vietnam, Myanmar, and Cambodia, the Asian first-day total broke 720,000 copies.

In Asia, his huge ticket warehouse, Zhou Yi, who almost exclusively enjoyed the World Cup benefits of Japan and South Korea, also ate his fill.

Plus over 600,000 first-day sales from Europe and the US combined, plus scattered sales from other regions, Zhou Yi's actual global first-day sales, with exposure maximized before the album release, directly broke 1.4 million copies.

Although this high sales volume brought by the exposure was borrowing from the future, it undoubtedly made Zhou Yi's financial data look hundreds of times better.

"I said it before, I came to America just to take first place.

"So, announcing to everyone here tonight in advance that I have secured the weekly championship, I suppose no one will object?"

July 10, Wednesday, night, at the Warner celebration party.

When Zhou Yi raised the trophy symbolizing the US Platinum Record certification, not a single reporter downstairs could speak up to refute, even though today was only Wednesday.

Because no one could threaten Zhou Yi's championship throne this week, because the strongest second place this week had sold only half of Zhou Yi's sales up to today.

That is to say, if this trend continues, Zhou Yi might even be the one to win consecutive weeks!

At this very moment, the reporters missed Eminem, who released his new album a month ago—although he was full of controversy, he was the only singer up to now this year whose album's North American first-week sales exceeded Zhou Yi's: a full 1.3 million copies.

"The album achieved genuine global double platinum record sales certification in just one week! Global first-day plus North American one-week total sales broke 2.4 million copies!

"The first person in the history of Chinese pop singers!"

While the celebration party was still going on at Warner, with Sohu releasing news item after news item alongside exclusive online reports, domestic public opinion instantly exploded—

"One album, I calculate even if Americans bought the cheapest at 22.9 dollars, that means in seven days, Zhou Yi alone earned at least 24 million US dollars from his album in the US alone?!"

"Damn! Zhou Yi is getting more and more outrageous; last time he earned 100 million in over two months, this time he earns a guaranteed 100 million in one week? Even printing money at a printing press isn't this fast!"

"Zhou Yi Yi (Monday Billion) really wasn't misnamed; now he is the genuine Zhou Yi Yi..."

"..."

Zhou Yi's fans shared in the glory, as if the money Zhou Yi earned could be split half and half with them, occasionally explaining the weight of securing the weekly championship on the Billboard album chart in advance.

The two women who benefited most obviously from this storm, Sun Yanzi and Fan Bingbin, saw their fanbases visibly grow—especially Fan Bingbin, the female lead of "Baby".

In China, or rather in the current world scope, the hottest song from Zhou Yi's album was not "Yeah", which ranked highest in multiple countries and was number 24 on the Billboard chart, but "Baby" at number 29 and "Good Time" at number 37 on the Billboard chart.

Abroad, an MV might be trivial, but under the hype and press releases by Fan Bingbin's manager Chen Shufen, Fan Bingbin, who only acted as the female lead in one MV, transformed as if she had become an international superstar whose fame could rival Zhang Ziyi; those who didn't know might think she had won the Oscar for Best Actress;

As for Sun Yanzi, who had been forced to work under Chen Zeshan's constraints since Zhou Yi left and could no longer stay at home playing Minecraft, she now only wanted to call Zhou Yi and tell him one thing—

"Come back to me right now!!! Chen Zeshan has already started planning my international debut; he has even started promoting and testing the market for me!"

Having personally seen Zhou Yi's exhausted look on TV that makeup couldn't hide, and very worried whether her physique could withstand it, Sun Yanzi launched a sonic attack over the phone, making Zhou Yi, who was soaking in the bath to recuperate, scratch his ears—

"International debut is fine, just have no worries; if you can't make it, I'll reluctantly step in and pull you up."

Comfortable and content, Zhou Yi sneered: "Next time you sing, I'll just stand by and go 'yo-yo' and harmonize a bit; we'll split the money fifty-fifty."

"Why can't it be you singing and me slacking off?"

In the Imperial Capital, at Sun Yanzi's home.

Sun Yanzi, who had been rolling on the bed with a pillow, immediately sat up straight and asked the soul-crushing question.

Zhou Yi disdainfully curled his lip: "Whether you sing or not is your choice; there are plenty of female singers who want to sing with me right now."

"..."

That makes a lot of sense.

Sun Yanzi suddenly realized that even with her sharp tongue and clever wit, she had no way to refute it.

One song, "Good Time," directly made her the most envied and jealous female singer in the Chinese music circle, bar none.

This is a song worthy of being a pension insurance policy.

And as time passed, when the song "Baby" began to explode globally, Fan Bingbin, as the female lead, did not reap any character dividends internationally. But domestically, after Chen Shufen's hype, her fame was already comparable to that of a top-tier movie star!

"Damn! I hate it!"

In Hong Kong, at Cai Zhuoyan's home.

Seeing the news, Cai Zhuoyan regretfully slapped her thigh: "That night, I should have just kept him!"

She also wanted to become hugely famous!

"Wait until he comes back, then try asking him again?" A-Jiao, eating potato chips on the side, blinked her eyes and tentatively asked.

Three updates!

(End of this chapter)