peterstyles13 Posted February 9, 2021 Posted February 9, 2021 (edited) Here's a list of the top 20 highest-grossing artists based on revenue from digital purchases of albums and singles from every music platform in China (QQ, NetEase, KuGou, KuWo, MiGu). All the data is publicly available on the respective applications. This does not include free downloads. 1. Taylor Swift - 152,392,608¥ 2. Xiao Zhan - 145,793,268¥ 3. Zhang Yixing - 143,495,539¥ 4. Luhan - 124,254,913¥ 5. Wang Yibo - 103,349,213¥ 6. Hua Chenyu - 102,926,694¥ 7. Jay Chou - 100,309,436¥ 8. Lin Junjie - 98,390,264¥ 9. Li Yuchun - 95,260,445¥ 10. Cai Xukun - 70,991,420¥ 11. BTS - 69,074,775¥ 12. BIGBANG - 51,963,170¥ 13. Eason Chan - 49,176,090¥ 14. R1SE - 42,972,636¥ 15. BLACKPINK - 42,617,130¥ 16. Rocket Girl 101 - 42,608,361¥ 17. Zhang Yunlei - 40,569,065¥ 18. NINE PERCENT - 33,302,330¥ 19. Huang Minghao - 29,839,966¥ 20. Chen Linong - 29,648,758¥ Edited February 9, 2021 by peterstyles13
GoodGuyGoneGhetto Posted February 9, 2021 Posted February 9, 2021 Where’s Rihanna or Madonna, M.J, Whitney Houston, The Beatles etc. Do we have a list for Physical sales for their period or early Digital sales? Also, I’ve never heard of any of these platforms besides ‘QQ’. I never knew their were so much.
peterstyles13 Posted February 9, 2021 Author Posted February 9, 2021 Just now, GoodGuyGoneGhetto said: Where’s Rihanna or Madonna, M.J, Whitney Houston, The Beatles etc. Do we have a list for Physical sales for their period or early Digital sales? Also, I’ve never heard of any of these platforms besides ‘QQ’. I never knew their were so much. The digital music stores in China only really lunched around 2015 and all the albums on it are from 2014 onward, which means artists like MJ, The Beatles and Madonna simply aren't there. It's important to note that sometimes even post-2014 albums are not added in the digital stores, depending on 1. the competency of the label/exclusive deals (for example BTS albums are not on QQ because they're exclusive to NetEase) but more importantly 2. the current popularity of the artist. Anti however is available, it generated over 5.1M¥ in revenue for over 300K digital purchases
simplywohoo Posted February 9, 2021 Posted February 9, 2021 The lord is called the lord for a reason jesus christ
family.guy123 Posted February 9, 2021 Posted February 9, 2021 7 minutes ago, peterstyles13 said: The digital music stores in China only really lunched around 2015 and all the albums on it are from 2014 onward, which means artists like MJ, The Beatles and Madonna simply aren't there. It's important to note that sometimes even post-2014 albums are not added in the digital stores, depending on 1. the competency of the label/exclusive deals (for example BTS albums are not on QQ because they're exclusive to NetEase) but more importantly 2. the current popularity of the artist. Anti however is available, it generated over 5.1M¥ in revenue for over 300K digital purchases Maybe put this in the OP. “All-time” suggests well... all time.
St. Charles Posted February 9, 2021 Posted February 9, 2021 I knew what this thread's purpose was going to be before I clicked.
StrangerInTheDark Posted February 9, 2021 Posted February 9, 2021 Oh not another thread about fake China numbers...
peterstyles13 Posted February 9, 2021 Author Posted February 9, 2021 (edited) 13 minutes ago, family.guy123 said: Maybe put this in the OP. “All-time” suggests well... all time. And it is of all time. I specifically mentioned in the title that it's for digitals only, it's not likes 70s and 80s acts we're gonna make the list. China basically did not have digitals before the timeframe I mentioned. That would be like saying we can't use "of all time" when it comes to the most streamed artist because streaming wasn't a thing back in the 70s. It doesn't change the fact that this is the overall revenues from digitals. If it can appease you I'll change the title 8 minutes ago, StrangerInTheDark said: Oh not another thread about fake China numbers... Since you seem oh so knowledgable about the Chinese market, please feel free to explain to us how they're fake despite the fact that this is all public information that can easily be verified? Here's an aggregate of all the revenue from the top artists. Go ahead and analyse it. Come back to us if you find any discrepancies! Edited February 9, 2021 by peterstyles13
Both Sides Now Posted February 9, 2021 Posted February 9, 2021 2 minutes ago, peterstyles13 said: The digital music stores in China only really lunched around 2015 and all the albums on it are from 2014 onward, which means artists like MJ, The Beatles and Madonna simply aren't there. It's important to note that sometimes even post-2014 albums are not added in the digital stores, depending on 1. the competency of the label/exclusive deals (for example BTS albums are not on QQ because they're exclusive to NetEase) but more importantly 2. the current popularity of the artist. Anti however is available, it generated over 5.1M¥ in revenue for over 300K digital purchases To add to this, IFPI data from the end of the physical era/digital era shows that China’s market was TINY. Revenue from record sales were less than 1% of what the US was pulled in usually, something comparable to a very small European country (or less). So a country of 1 Billion+ generated less revenue than Ireland which has ~5 million It’s only in the mid 10s that China began to emerge as an important market and now it is Top 10 in the world. So, any artists who aren’t popular before streaming era probably have negligible numbers. Also, I’m just guessing here, but I’d say Western artists weren’t generally allowed to be sold in China? I know that China is quite strict with how many/what kind of Western movies are allowed to be distributed in the country anyway...
peterstyles13 Posted February 9, 2021 Author Posted February 9, 2021 1 minute ago, Both Sides Now said: To add to this, IFPI data from the end of the physical era/digital era shows that China’s market was TINY. Revenue from record sales were less than 1% of what the US was pulled in usually, something comparable to a very small European country (or less). So a country of 1 Billion+ generated less revenue than Ireland which has ~5 million It’s only in the mid 10s that China began to emerge as an important market and now it is Top 10 in the world. So, any artists who aren’t popular before streaming era probably have negligible numbers. Also, I’m just guessing here, but I’d say Western artists weren’t generally allowed to be sold in China? I know that China is quite strict with how many/what kind of Western movies are allowed to be distributed in the country anyway... Exactly! China's market was dominated by piracy for decades before their digital era started back in the mid 2010s. And yes physicals were limited for western artists partly due to the strict rules as to what was allowed and what wasn't, but also partly due to complications with shipping it to China. I remember that Titanic for example had over a million copies shipped and sold in China.
Mark Rih Posted February 9, 2021 Posted February 9, 2021 Can Swifties explain me why Taylor is the only huge western artist in China? The gap is just
Both Sides Now Posted February 9, 2021 Posted February 9, 2021 5 minutes ago, peterstyles13 said: Exactly! China's market was dominated by piracy for decades before their digital era started back in the mid 2010s. And yes physicals were limited for western artists partly due to the strict rules as to what was allowed and what wasn't, but also partly due to complications with shipping it to China. I remember that Titanic for example had over a million copies shipped and sold in China. That’s interesting. I’d still reckon the million Titanic soundtracks weren’t worth very much in actual revenue though. From some back of the envelope maths, it looks like an average album/music DVD in 2004 in China was around $1.25, while in USA it was $15. If you want to generate revenue, the best place to sell is Japan where CDs were ludicrously expensive (maybe $30).
Sweet Sexy Savage Posted February 9, 2021 Posted February 9, 2021 I wonder if there is a most pirated songs/artists list then!
frenchyisback Posted February 9, 2021 Posted February 9, 2021 So the most an artist ever gross in history is $23,679,881 The chinese market is really not that impressive tbh. Taylor grosses that with 1 hit on Spotify.
Both Sides Now Posted February 9, 2021 Posted February 9, 2021 1 minute ago, frenchyisback said: So the most an artist ever gross in history is $23,679,881 The chinese market is really not that impressive tbh. Taylor grosses that with 1 hit on Spotify. Hardly Based on approximate pay/play, one billion streams on Spotify is only around $4,000,000. Even less on YouTube.
peterstyles13 Posted February 9, 2021 Author Posted February 9, 2021 17 minutes ago, frenchyisback said: So the most an artist ever gross in history is $23,679,881 The chinese market is really not that impressive tbh. ...No? This is based on digital sales alone. Needless to say artists have more ways to make money than simply digital purchases of singles and albums? You're constantly trying to minimize China's market when it's one of the biggest markets and growing faster than any country as per IFPI. Just deal with it already. 19 minutes ago, frenchyisback said: Taylor grosses that with 1 hit on Spotify. Again...no? The biggest Spotify song ever didn't even generate half of that in revenue. Don't know why we're comparing WW streams from a streaming platform with revenue from digital sales in one market to begin with tho
frenchyisback Posted February 9, 2021 Posted February 9, 2021 53 minutes ago, Both Sides Now said: Hardly Based on approximate pay/play, one billion streams on Spotify is only around $4,000,000. Even less on YouTube. Are you talking about how much she pockets as an artist or how much the title grosses overall?
peterstyles13 Posted February 10, 2021 Author Posted February 10, 2021 2 hours ago, hellocory said: Taylor, empress of China
Take Me Apart Posted February 10, 2021 Posted February 10, 2021 5 hours ago, peterstyles13 said: 16. Rocket Girl 101 - 42,608,361¥ Legends !
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