Digital success story

Taiwan singer-songwriter Jay Chou's hit with his latest single shows how licensed services in the Chinese music market are faring.

After a very long wait, Jay Chou launched his latest single, entitled Won't Cry, and a surprise video of the single at 11 pm on Sept 16.

By 3:30 pm on Sept 17, the single, written by lyricist Vincent Fang and Chou, which features Taiwan pop-rock band Mayday's lead vocalist Ashin, sold copies worth 20 million yuan ($2.81 million), with each single selling for 3 yuan.

The music video, starring Japanese actress Ayaka Miyoshi and Japanese actor Watanabe Keisuke, was viewed over 10 million times within eight hours.

It was a record for China's digital music sales, but it wasn't entirely surprising.

Since the 40-year-old Taiwan singer-songwriter released his debut album, entitled Jay, in 2001, he has become one of Mandarin pop's biggest stars with his style of R&B, love ballads and rap, which often saw him include classical music and traditional Chinese instruments in his work.

In July 2016, he released his 14th studio album, Bedtime Stories, and since then, fans have been waiting for new songs from him.

Chou's success with his latest single shows how licensed digital services in the Chinese music market are doing.

In 2014, Tencent Music Entertainment Group began working with record labels to release digital albums. For starters, it released Chou's album, Aiyo, Not Bad, in December 2014.