Music Sales in 2006; Hacken Lee and Janice Wei Topped Sales Charts

Friday December 29, 2006 Hong Kong

Album sales in 2006 in Hong Kong was one of the worst in 20 years. Many singers have focused on packaging and putting in their best vocal efforts in order to attract sales. Thus the albums released in 2006 was uncharacteristic of recent years. The market was no longer saturated by only idol singers who could release albums of mediocre quality. In order to sustain reasonable sales, idol singers had to focus on packaging or put in true efforts.

Hacken Lee capitalized on his vocal talents and took the production of his album seriously, flying to Korea to record his tracks to assure the utmost quality. Aside from attracting the casual consumer, he was able to attract hardcore music fanatics [who appreciate a high quality production]. Hacken's album, 《演奏廳II》stayed on the charts for 15 weeks and was the top selling album for 2006.

Janice Wei received the Best Newcomer Award last year and pulled in amazing results for 2006 as well. Her album, "My Love," was on the billboard charts for 14 weeks, securing the crown among female singers. Janice's fast-track career is amazing and established artists such as Joey Yung, Kelly Chen, Miriam Yeung, and Denise Ho should take caution and continue to put in greater efforts.

Justin Lo also received the Best Newcomer Award last year and his album "Justin," stayed on the charts for 11 weeks, making his album the 3rd most successful in 2006. Also, his other album, "No Protection," also released in 2006, remained on the charts for 8 weeks and was overall the 7th most successful album of the year. Thus Justin scored 2 victories in 2006 and was the only male singer to have 2 albums dominating the top of the charts.

Sammi Cheng Sau Man's compilation album of past hits, "Sammi Ultimate Collection" was the 4th most successful album in 2006, remaining on the charts for 10 weeks. Perhaps it has been many years since Sammi has released an album and she did not have any new songs included. However since the compilation CD contained the best of Sammi's past hits, it was a valuable purchase. However, old hits can only sustain fans for a short period of time. Many fans undoubtedly look forward to Sammi's new songs!

Hot artists such as Leo Ku and Eason Chan could not break into the top 10 ablum list. However Taiwanese sensation, Jay Chou Kit Lun's 《依然范特西》was the 5th most popular album and remained on the billboart charts for 10 weeks. Although some have criticized Jay's music style indifferent from past years, he was still able to capture significant market share.

Another artist, Kong Leung's 《約定》remained on the charts for 10 weeks. Due to his vocal talents, he should continue to have a wide fan base supporting him.

Renown musician Lau Ka Cheung's [Kevin Cheng and Nnadia Chan's music instructor]《往事只能回味》was the 8th most popular album, remaining on the charts for 7 weeks. Perhaps Mr. Lau's concert earlier in the year boosted sales for his music album.

In the 9th and 10th place are compiled CD's 《愛‧回憶》and 《刻骨銘心》 from various artists. In the past, compilation CD's featuring various artists have always been popular among fans, since they often contain the most popular hits.

credits: Dramasian, asianfanatics.