Huayu Entertainment: The Birth of a Succubus Top Star

May 1st, Labor Day.

Gu Zhiyan's debut solo album, "Listening," was released on Tencent Music at 10:00 AM sharp.

The album includes ten songs: "The Wind Rises," "Young and Promising," "The Rest of My Life," "Twilight Echoes," "Until the End of the World," "Suspended," "Illness," "Boy," "Misplaced Time and Space," and "Red-Clad Ladies."

Gu Zhiyan had bought the copyrights to the songs "The Wind Rises" and "Until the End of the World" long ago.

The album has been breaking various digital album sales records since its release.

32秒突破5万张，1分02秒突破10万张，上线不足8小时狂破一百万张大关。

In less than a day, it broke all seven records for the fastest digital album certification, from Gold Record to Diamond Record.

It became the fastest digital album to surpass one million sales in the history of Chinese digital music streaming websites, with sales exceeding 20 million yuan.

Logically speaking, the album's daily sales should start to decline gradually, or even plummet, because those who initially bought the album were mostly fans. Once the potential of these fans is exhausted, if the album cannot attract non-fans, a drop in sales is inevitable.

However, for Gu Zhiyan's album, this is just the beginning.

Nowadays, album sales for singers are basically entirely supported by their fans.

To be honest, people like Lu Han and Master Hua have no recollection of what songs they've sung, and they basically have no representative works.

Album sales are mainly driven by repeat purchases by fans and bulk purchases by groups, and market influence primarily stems from the high level of popularity generated within the fan community.

Gu Zhiyan's album is different; every song on the album is a masterpiece. With fans enthusiastically recommending it, many casual listeners have also become enthusiastic advocates.

On major short video platforms, songs from Gu Zhiyan's album have spread like wildfire.

The top management of Douyin were laughing their heads off at the rapid growth in registered users and user retention rate.

It was definitely worth the high price they paid to collaborate with Gu Zhiyan; it was excellent value for money!

During this period, Douyin's product and content positioning was "a music short video community for young people," focusing on 15-second music short videos.

Working with Gu Zhiyan is a match made in heaven.

As a rising star in the industry, Douyin has developed rapidly, even surpassing early entrants like Kuaishou at one point, but it also faces severe challenges.

Its 30-day user retention rate is far lower than that of similar products within the company. For example, the retention rate of Huoshan Video is twice that of Douyin.

Gu Zhiyan's songs brought Douyin (TikTok) an incredible surge in traffic and an exceptionally high user retention rate.

The top management at Douyin now treats Gu Zhiyan like royalty.

Music critics, music bloggers, and media marketing accounts have all commented on the songs on Gu Zhiyan's album and recommended it to fans.

It received rave reviews immediately.

It quickly gained positive word-of-mouth and broke into new markets.

High-quality music content itself has strong market potential.

"Listen" sold over two million copies in its first week and received double diamond record certification. It sold over three million copies in ten days and received hall of fame record certification, setting a record for the fastest hall of fame gold record in history.

The album's sales figures are staggering.

All ten songs from the album simultaneously occupied the top ten positions on the Tencent Music New Song Chart.

This spectacle has also drawn gasps of amazement from netizens and industry insiders.

The album "Listen" is also hailed as a "divine album" by many fans.

Gu Zhiyan's first album has made him a legend, and some have already proclaimed him as "the number one new generation artist in the Chinese music scene".

Then a fight broke out.

Fans of the "god of the Chinese music scene" are not convinced!

Is this an attempt to rise to fame by stepping on their idol?

"Gu Zhiyan is nowhere near our brother's level. He's just a pop song writer."

"Our Huahua's songs are so sophisticated, Gu Zhiyan's songs are too vulgar."

"You people have no taste at all, you only deserve to like this kind of trashy song."

……

Hua Chengyu's fans' outrageous remarks not only angered Gu Zhiyan's fans, but also drew criticism from casual fans.

He already had a bad reputation, and this only made things worse.

"It's pretty awkward when someone with no notable works is praised to the skies and becomes narcissistically inflated."

"Whether you like it or not is a matter of personal taste. It's annoying when fans and their teams praise it themselves and then force others to admit it."

"I really admire Hua Chengyu, because after Lin Zhengying, he is the only one who knows how to perform rituals."

"As long as you're not embarrassed, it's others who are embarrassed. The master should jump up."

"He can't reach the high notes, his low notes are too low, his transitions are not smooth, his falsetto is not natural, his breath control is not strong enough, his emotions are not rich enough, his timbre is not full, going off-key is the norm, cracking his voice is frequent, and his singing is like cancer. Putting aside the quality of the songs, his singing skills are eighteen streets worse than Gu Zhiyan's."

"Hua Chengyu sings: First step, he sings softly and intoxicatedly; second step, he is suddenly possessed; third step, the drug takes effect and his fingers twitch; fourth step, the drug's effect continues and he begins to perform rituals; fifth step, the drug's effect hits him hard and he screams and howls."

"Your brother is so awesome, he must have written all the songs himself, right? Lyrics, composition, arrangement, Gu Zhiyan does it all himself."

"Stop hyping yourself up like a god. Don't start bragging until your album sales surpass Gu Zhiyan's."

……

They couldn't even beat Gu Zhiyan's fans alone, let alone the large number of bystanders who joined in. Hua Chengyu's fans were pinned to the ground and brutally beaten.

Gu Zhiyan didn't care about these domestic matters; Xiuxiu was handling them, and everything was going smoothly.

The crew members felt a different kind of emotion when they looked at Gu Zhiyan again.

Not only is he amazing at acting, but he's also incredibly talented at singing!

Apart from early Hong Kong and Taiwan stars, where else since the new century has someone like Gu Zhiyan emerged?

If Gu Zhiyan could also make up for his shortcomings in film, he could become a triple-threat superstar in film, television and music.

Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps!

……

At the end of May, filming of all the scenes in Africa for "Operation Red Sea" was finally completed, and all crew members returned to China.

Gu Zhiyan did not go to Guangdong Province with the crew to continue filming. He took leave and was away from the country for four months because he had some important things to take care of.

Director Lin Chaoxian readily approved his leave.

Gu Zhiyan is his treasure. As the only top star in "Operation Red Sea", Lin Chaoxian has seen Gu Zhiyan's powerful appeal.

Gu Zhiyan's album sold over 5 million copies and generated over 100 million yuan in sales in less than a month, breaking various records for digital album sales and revenue.

This is terrifying! It's practically a human money-printing machine.

The more capable Gu Zhiyan is, the more beneficial it will be for the movie "Operation Red Sea".

Leaving aside Gu Zhiyan's box office appeal as a top star, judging from the album sales, even just his fans alone could contribute a significant amount to the box office.

Moreover, having a top celebrity in the movie negotiating screening schedules with theaters is also very beneficial.

How could Lin Chaoxian possibly refuse to let me take a few days off!