At the beginning of 1996, even insiders in the pop music industry had not realized that the idol era was about to arrive, let alone talk about the first year of idols.

  Throughout January of this year, all musicians, related radio stations, TV stations, newspapers and magazines were saying: The era of female singers has arrived!

  On Monday, January 6th, the weekly music album sales chart of Dongguan Bookstore was released as usual, and at the same time, most people in the industry got the sales ranking with accurate data.

  Generally speaking, from November to before the Spring Festival, this period of about three months is considered a slack season for domestic popular music album sales and a peak season for commercial performances. Major singers rarely choose to release new albums during these three months, and those who do are mostly singers with slightly lower market positions. In fact, this period is also when major singers who released albums in the spring and summer default to continuing to reap remaining sales.

  So, although many singers, especially new singers, chose to release new albums during this time period, trying to compete for the charts in the market's off-season, in last week's Dongguan Bookstore sales chart, Liao Liao and Liu Mingliang's new album, which had already broken through the 2 million mark and was still slowly sliding down, remained in the top ten. Even He Runqing's single "Half a Cup of Silk", which only exploded in popularity for two or three weeks, was still ranked sixteenth.

  And in the previous week, "Sisters Stand Up" was released nationwide, but like most new singers, it had a sales volume of less than 700 copies at Dongguan Bookstore for several days, ranking outside the top 30.

  However, just after the New Year's Eve concert of Dongfang Star Satellite TV was broadcast, in the remaining days of this week starting from January 1st, this album suddenly burst out with tremendous energy!

  It debuted at number one on the Oricon Albums Chart with 27,194 copies sold in its first week!

  And, on this week's chart, including albums by famous singers such as Liu Mingliang, Zhao Xinfu and Liao Liao, from second to tenth place, the total weekly sales of all these albums is only 29,328 copies!

  In other words, the sales of "Sisters Stand Up" this week were only 2,000 copies less than the total sales of the nine albums that ranked from second to ninth last week.

  This is a complete and utter crushing!

  This incredibly powerful pose directly shocked every single person who saw this sales ranking!

  Despite the saying "the last strength of a strong crossbow, can't penetrate a thick layer of silk", comparing the sales of a newly released album with one that has been on the market for half a year is unfair. However, even the best weekly sales record of Liao's album "Liao" at Dongguan Bookstore was only 14,827 copies! And Liu Mingliang's highest weekly sales record was slightly higher than hers, at only 15,660 copies!

  In the past, Liu Mingliang's album, which once created a domestic record sales of 370,000 copies in a single week, had its highest weekly sales of 21,088 copies at Dongguan Bookstore during that peak week!

  Without a doubt. In the past three years, that achievement was once considered an unprecedented super record that would be difficult for anyone to surpass! On the Dongguan Bookstore's weekly album sales ranking chart, it topped the list!

  Moreover, there is only one album with weekly sales exceeding 20,000 copies!

  However, more than three years later, the album "Sisters Stand Up" which was not very noticeable when it was first released, suddenly became a hit overnight, and in just five days, it not only broke Liu Mingliang's super record that once made him proud, but also surpassed 60,000 copies!

  Now, this sales data record has been raised to 27,194 at once!

  Even though the national sales data needs to be tallied, it will still take a few more weeks. However, based on the 20 times rule of thumb used by record companies to estimate sales, the album "Sisters Stand Up" may have sold between 450,000 and 550,000 copies nationwide this week.

  In other words, apart from the single-week sales data of Dongguan Bookstore, this album has almost certainly surpassed the record of 370,000 copies that was once considered unattainable in national sales data!

  This series of data, this series of new records, is enough to make the entire Chinese music scene speechless!

  However, as the first to get the data, Dongguan Bookstore still published a professional review in this week's Dongguan Weekly, specifically commenting on the emergence of this new record. Although in this review, the evaluation of the album "Sisters Stand Up" is not completely positive, and for fast songs like "Charge! Charge! Charge!", "Love Me!" and "Heartbreak Frontline Alliance", the reviewer expressed a certain degree of dissatisfaction, even questioning whether the best-selling fast songs and dance music would spoil the atmosphere of "doing good music with a calm mind" in the domestic music scene.

  Moreover, this comment, which is said to be from a big shot in the circle, also mercilessly ridicules the disorder of the style of the entire album. It thinks that putting works like "Songbie" and "Moscow Suburbs at Night", which is full of exotic flavor, into this album, is undoubtedly a waste of good things. However, at the end of the article, the commentator still somewhat stiffly returns to Dongguan Bookstore's consistent point of view, that is, the absolute importance of sales.

  Then, without a doubt, he congratulated on behalf of the entire Dongfang Bookstore for creating new historical records with this album and predicted that this album will break a series of records in the future!

  Overall, many of the statements in this review from Dongguan Bookstore are even somewhat self-contradictory. Although it appears to be a balanced evaluation with both praise and criticism, attempting to present itself as an objective and truthful assessment, it is difficult to conceal its numerous flaws - the more knowledgeable one is, the more apparent they become. Despite being the first to obtain this sales data and learn of this astonishing sales record, there was only one night's time, which left Dongguan Bookstore somewhat unprepared and unable to fully react, at least not able to truly calm down and carefully analyze this new record.

  They seem somewhat... flustered!

  But this is just the beginning.

  After the sales ranking of Dongguan Bookstore was announced in this issue, a large number of comments emerged instantly from the second day!

  It seems like a new record suddenly appeared out of thin air. Suddenly stimulated something!

  Regarding the fast songs and dance tracks "Sister, Stand Up" and "The Breakup Frontline Alliance", regarding the inconsistent style of the entire album, regarding the value and significance of "Farewell", regarding the astonishing weekly sales created by this album... Regarding the sudden appearance of the all-girl group Wu Suo, and so on and so forth... Even including reevaluations of the ability to promote new artists and songs at the four major domestic evening parties... Various opinions have been emerging one after another, without end.

  Just this week, it seems that all domestic media have been suddenly mobilized. Radio stations, TV stations, newspapers and magazines, everyone has spoken out, with praise and criticism, flattery and scolding. Even many people made predictions that were diametrically opposed to Dongfang Bookstore's: they thought this album was just taking advantage of the east wind brought by the Oriental Star Satellite TV New Year's Eve concert to sell songs.

  Moreover, based on the market survey conducted by the other party, most of the buyers of this album are young students. He believes that as pure consumers, their purchasing power is extremely limited, and their age also determines that they are prone to changing preferences. So, once the craze passes, the enthusiasm of young people will quickly dissipate. It won't be long before this week, the sales of this album will plummet!

  And even on the following Wednesday, China Voice once again released last week's Golden Song Chart on time. The two songs "Sisters Stand Up" and "Heartbreak Frontline Alliance" both debuted on the chart, ranking 7th and 10th respectively. The other side also continued to publish signed articles afterwards. Insisting that such a fast song, such a girl group with obviously not enough singing skills, is just a fleeting trend in the pop music scene, and will soon stop.

  All sorts of sounds rose and fell in a deafening cacophony.

  "Sisters and Brothers Stand Up" This album is like a thorn that has pierced human skin. In that instant, the body's inherent immune response causes the muscles to tense up and control bleeding, causing white blood cells to rush over and swarm in an attempt to immediately eliminate any invading bacteria and viruses.

  It was like a stone thrown into the calm lake, the stone entered the water, splashing water, and the fish and shrimp in the lake were startled. For a moment, the fish jumped out of the water, trying to see where the stone came from...

  But when a new week arrived, and Dongfang Bookstore once again released last week's music album sales rankings, everyone, all the media, and all the tunes fell silent in an instant.

  This week, "Sisters Who Make Waves" has a total sales volume of —— at all Dongfang Bookstore chain stores and branches nationwide.

  30,885!

  After breaking the historical sales record created by Liu Mingliang last week, in this week, they not only did not start to plummet as predicted by some people and media, but instead climbed up another big step in sales!

  This week, it not only broke the new record just created by itself last week, but also pushed this record to an astonishing level of over 30,000 copies!

  This is the first album in the history of Dongguan Bookstore's sales ranking list that has broken 30,000 copies sold in a single week!

  If all goes as expected, this album's national sales will definitely exceed 500,000 copies this week, and even if we make an extreme estimate, reaching or even breaking 600,000 copies is not entirely impossible!

  If saying that the sales of two consecutive weeks in Dongguan Bookstore broke the record, with a cumulative total of more than 580,000 copies, is not shocking enough, then the national sales of three weeks after listing will soon exceed 10 million copies, and it is even very likely to have already exceeded 10 million copies...

  Isn't it shocking enough?

  And if this is still not enough, and some people still can't be stopped from saying strange things...

  On Wednesday of this week, with the release of last week's Golden Melody Chart on China Voice, even those who looked down on and despised this album had to shut their mouths.

  Last week, when "Sisters" and "Heartbroken Union" debuted on the chart, they ranked 7th and 10th respectively. At that time, among the top 10 songs on the Golden Melody Chart, Liao Liao's "Persistence", "Cheers, Friends" and "Wildflower" were still at the top, while He Rongying's "Half a Cup of Silk" was also hanging in at 9th place. Adding to that, Wu Xing Yu Su had two songs on the chart as well, making it a historic moment for female singers to occupy six spots in the top 10. Some media outlets even exclaimed that "the era of female singers has arrived", but in reality, unlike with Liao Liao's works, people didn't have much confidence in these two songs by this five-girl group staying on the chart for long. So, when some people brought up the sensational claim that "the era of female singers has arrived", not many people acknowledged it, and some even couldn't be bothered to respond.

  However, on this week's Golden Melody Chart, among the works of male singers, only Liu Mingliang has one song that was squeezed to 10th place, and Zhao Xinfu's song barely stayed at 8th place. The other eight songs are all by female singers. Even the most stubborn person can't help but admit that maybe the era of female singers' rise is really coming!

  In this week's chart, He Runkai's "Half a Jar of Silk" did not rush down and still hung at the end of No. 9. Liao Liao's three works also maintained their strong popularity, and even "Determination" was still firmly seated in the first place! However, "Sisters Stand Up" has already risen to second place!

  And closely following, "Lost Love Array Alliance" this dance song is in third place!

  "Happy Baby" ranks fifth, "Farewell" ranks sixth!

  Everyone shut up!

  Coincidentally, as the topic of female singers rising to fame was being widely discussed, a shocking piece of entertainment news suddenly broke out on a famous domestic BBS this week - Zhou Xun is getting divorced!

  For a moment, no matter how harsh the criticism of "Sisters Stand Up" was before, it's really embarrassing to turn back now. Or facing such an album with a strange and chaotic style, yet surprisingly receiving strong welcome from countless people, breaking sales records again and again. It makes even professionals unsure how to judge for a moment. Anyway, all media seem to have reached a tacit understanding in an instant, suddenly shifting their focus to the news of Zhou Xun's divorce.

  In this week, various media followed up. Zhou Dun's former boss Xinda Records and her agent Zou Wenhui were also bombarded by the media, and the news that Zhou Dun had indeed divorced was confirmed.

  Although various media outlets have been mobilized, none of them have actually interviewed Zhou Dandan herself. However, even if only the news of Zhou Dandan's divorce is confirmed, it has already caused a stir among domestic media, music circles and fans.

  Although Zhou Mei was only ranked last among the four heavenly kings even when her performance was at its best, with Liao Liao's sudden rise to fame, some media outlets have already excluded her from the list of four heavenly kings. However, Zhou Mei is still Zhou Mei - her voice is one-of-a-kind, her personality is one-of-a-kind, her style is one-of-a-kind, and her topic is one-of-a-kind.

  Although the other party was also known as a talented person, and even now is still considered one of the most promising writers to win the Nobel Prize in Literature at home, although he had already shocked the national literary world with a long poem at the age of 20, and as the years went by, his works were numerous, and now he can be called a top-notch figure in the domestic literary world. However, Zhou Fen, such a talented and beautiful female singer, took the initiative to become a concubine at a young age, which was still unacceptable for her countless fans at that time, so much so that many fans gathered together at that time, publicly burning the old writer's works in protest.

  Don't mention the talented and beautiful, red sleeves adding fragrance. In the hearts of literati, even if they are old, there is still a young beauty who becomes a concubine, which is a great pride in life. However, for fans who truly like Zhou Niang, if she were to marry as a legitimate wife, even if the other party was nearly 40 years older than Zhou Niang, perhaps it could be barely accepted due to the other party's high status in the literary world. But marrying and becoming just a concubine for that dry and thin old man is absolutely unacceptable.

  Now, Zhou Dandan has finally left that old scoundrel, and instantly all her fans who liked her were overjoyed!

  Although under that BBS post, there were already many people starting to say very vicious things like "Even if they're divorced, she's still a rotten cunt" or "As soon as I think about her being fucked by an old man, I suddenly don't like her anymore", but the number of people who hold such views is still small.

  In this time and space, the Confucian ideology is more reserved and deeper, and the domestic customs are more conservative, with a greater emphasis on women's chastity, which is also unquestionable. However, this country and nation have not yet sunk to the point of looking down on a divorced woman - in the time and space that Li Qian has experienced, even in the 5,000-year history, there was only one era that truly despised women who remarried or got divorced from a societal perspective, which was during the peak of the scholar-official culture in the Ming Dynasty, and another era when the entire nation was servile and submissive, which was the Qing Dynasty. As for this current time and space, it is even better than the Qing Dynasty, and thanks to the lessons learned from the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the peasant uprising-born Great Shun Dynasty has changed many of the bad habits of the Ming Dynasty in this regard.

  When the news of Zhou Xun's divorce was confirmed, not only her fans cheered, but also almost all record companies that can be counted nationwide in the domestic media's entertainment news section extended an olive branch to Zhou Xun through the media.

  Zhou Xun's divorce may represent pain and relief for herself, but others don't care about that. What everyone is concerned about is that the powerful female singer with a voice as ethereal as a fairy has returned at the right time!

  While the country's entertainment news is consistently discussing Zhou Xun's divorce, discussing when this song queen will officially return, discussing whose contract she will sign next, and even many media outlets have begun to enthusiastically discuss the interaction between the online and offline worlds, as well as the rise of online power, and whether computers are about to become mainstream, it's Monday again.

  Dongguan Bookstore's music album sales ranking list, released on schedule.

  ***

  This is the second update, over 5,000 words!

  Continue to seek encouragement, support and morale boost!