The C-pop or Chinese pop music genre has seen a massive boost in the past couple of years. Take a look at some of the C-Pop’s artists and their best releases-
1. Wang Yibo
Wang Yibo is a member of UNIQ (under YueHun Entertainment) as the main dancer and main rapper. He is also an actor and a professional motorcyclist. Yibo ranked 9th in 2020 and 2nd in 2021 on the Forbes China Celebrity 100 list.
Yibo’s 2020 release, The Rules of My World, broke the record for the fastest digital single to hit over 10 million copies in sales volume on NetEase, a Chinese music streaming service, in just 2 hours and 20 minutes.
2. Lay (Zhang Yixing)
Zhang Yixing is a member of the K-pop boy group EXO, as the main dancer and vocalist. He is also an actor, producer, songwriter, and brand ambassador for almost 30 companies including Valentino, Converse and, Calvin Klein.
His first mini-album, Lose Control, notably broke 7 of the 8 Guinness World Records on the YinYueTai China Weekly Chart. Zhang Yixing’s fourth album, Lit made history by selling over 1.5 million copies in under 7 minutes breaking nine records in this time frame.
3. KUN (Cai Xukun)
Cai Xukun is a solo artist under KUN Entertainment. Cai Xukun secured the first position on the survival show Idol Producer 2018 and debuted as the leader of Nine Percent.
In 2019, KUN earned the title of ‘King of Digital Singles’ for impressively topping domestic Chinese charts in an instant and selling 110,000 copies in a week with his second EP YOUNG.
4. Silence Wang (Wang SuLong)
Silence Wang (born Wang SuLong) is a Chinese pop artist. The singer began training in traditional Chinese music from his early childhood. He is an undergraduate from the Shenyang Conservatory of Music. Silence is one of the most popular male singers in the 30 to 40-year-old age group in China.
One of Wang’s most famous works is his song ‘A Little Bit Sweet’. The song was released in 2013 and has accumulated over 130 million views on YouTube since its release, making it Silence Wang’s most-streamed song on YouTube.
5. Eric Chou (Zhou XingZhe)
Eric Chou is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter signed under Sony Music Entertainment. Eric has been named ‘The King of Lovelorn’ by the Taiwanese media.
The song Distance of Love from his first album release compiled over 160 million views. Eric was heavily praised by Taiwanese music insiders for his impressive songwriting skills at the age of 19. Eric’s 'How Have You Been' from the album 'What Has Love Taught Us', topped charts all over Taiwan, including iTunes and Spotify Asian. Both the album and the song, individually and together, were a huge commercial success.
6. Cheng Xiao
Cheng Xiao is a Chinese member of the girl group Cosmic Girls (WJSN) under Starship Entertainment. Cheng studied dancing for 10 years before becoming an idol. She graduated from the famous School of Performing Arts in Seoul, after transferring from the Shenzhen Arts School.
Cheng Xiao debuted as a solo singer on the 28th December 2020, with her first solo album Focus-X. The title track of the album, also titled Focus-X has a remix version featuring the very well-known Camila Cabello.
7. Jolin Tsai (Cai YiLin / Tsai YiLin)
Jolin is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, crowned the ‘Queen of C-Pop’. Jolin has won six Golden Melody Awards (Grammy equivalent in China). Jolin’s 2014 released album Play, sold over 25 million copies, distinguishing her as one of Asia’s best-selling artists.
Her songs Marry Me Today, Sun Will Never Set, Play, and Honey Trap, all landed at the top of the Hit FM Annual Top 100 list in Taiwan, making Jolin the singer with the most number-one hits on the list with Jay Chou.
8. G.E.M (Tang Sze Wing)
G.E.M is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter. G.E.M, became a professional singer by winning the singing competition ‘Spice It Up’ and landing a contract with Hummingbird Music at 16. G.E.M’s, the first album featuring the top-ranking song Where Did You Go, won her the Gold New Female Singer Award from CRHK Ultimate 903, making her the first minor ever to receive this award. Her song Light Years Away made her Hong Kong’s first artist secure a 100 million view MV in 2018. In 2019 G.E.M, became the first Mandarin female singer to get 200 million views on the MV of the same song.
9. Sammi Cheng (Sammi Cheng SauMan)
Sammi Cheng is a singer and actress hailing from Hong Kong. Cheng has been titled ‘Cantopop Queen’ by the media. At the 2011 Metro Radio Hits Awards, Sammi Cheng won the ‘Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award for Female Singer’. She is one of Hong Kong’s most notable music artists.
Sammi Cheng’s We Grew This Way is one of her most successful releases, gathering over 7 million views on YouTube and over 8 million streams on Spotify. In 2020, Cheng’s song ‘Say It Properly’ an OST for Fagara won the best original film song at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
10. Lala Hsu (Hsu Chiaying)
Lala Hsu is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter. Lala won the third season of the ‘One Million Star’ singing competition with an average score of 21.47, marking the beginning of her career.
Lala won the ‘Best Mandarin Female Singer Award’ at the 29th Golden Melody Awards. Her song From Now On won the song of the year at the 22nd China Music Awards. Lala is a recipient of 6 ten best songs from the Association of Music Workers in Taiwan with her most recent being The Prayer and Springtime Allergies in 2019.
