Chapter 1092: Celebrity Rankings Index maintenance completed! Zhang Ye's ranking!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
The next day.
Saturday night.
Today was the broadcast of the King of Masked Singers' closing concert!
Those who did not have the chance to attend the live recording were all waiting at their televisions. They switched their channels to Beijing Television and were nervously looking forward to the start of the broadcast. They were anticipating it so much because they really wanted to listen to Zhang Ye, Fan Wenli, Li Xiaoxian, and the others' sing again, especially since it was a live concert as well as the farewell concert of King of Masked Singers. As some of the singers did not take off their masks to reveal themselves until the grand finals last week, everyone was still left wanting for more. They were nervous because everyone knew that there was a sudden downpour in Beijing last night and that the concert venue was in an open-air space!
So how could they sing?
How did they manage to record?
Would they stop the concert halfway through?
The show started broadcasting.
The singers made their appearances one by one.
Sure enough, a light spattering of rain could be seen on television screens halfway through the concert. There was also a very strong wind gusting!
Dong Shanshan announced onstage that recording would be cut short.
"As expected!"
"Why didn't they carry on recording!"
"Uh, it ended just like that?"
"Surely not, right?"
"I haven't heard enough yet!"
"How can this be? Has it really ended?"
"I've been waiting the entire week and they only sang those few songs?"
"It can't be helped. The rain was really too heavy."
"Right, we have to be understanding too and not blame them for it."
However, just when everyone started discussing this and when many of them were about to change the channel or turn off their television, they suddenly heard a singing voice coming from it. It stunned everyone!
...
"True Heroes".
"Inside of my heart, I once had a dream.
"To make you forget all of your anguish with my singing."
...
"Superhero".
"You say that I am your superhero!
"As well as your occasional guest punching bag!"
...
"Three Days and Three Nights".
"I'm won't get tired at all!
"I have danced for three days and three nights!"
...
Old Zhang's home.
Ning Lan and Fang Weihong were also here today.
Watching Zhang Ye on the television playing and singing simultaneously in the rain, they were all stunned!
Fang Weihong couldn't help but say, "This is really nice to listen to!"
Ning Lan exclaimed, "Those songs were all written by him?"
Zhang Yuanqi laughed and said, "Ning Lan, I think there will be a threat to your spot in the Celebrity Rankings Index this year."
"Hmm? Ning Lan blinked and said, "Surely Zhang Ye couldn't be on such a heaven-defying streak, could he? My popularity gained this year should be quite good. I have taken seven movie projects, and I'm now at second place on the A-list rankings. Zhang'er's popularity ranking is still not updated since the system is still undergoing maintenance. Even if they include all the songs that he sang today, he couldn't possibly jump straight from the bottom two places of the A-list to the front few, could he? No one has ever done that before!"
Fang Weihong, who also seemed very optimistic about Zhang Ye's chances, said, "There was no such precedence before, but that doesn't mean that it won't happen. You can't use common sense with him!"
...
At Peking University.
Summer break had arrived, but a lot of the students did not go back home. It was not that they were unable to get hold of the bus tickets, but that many of them wanted to stay behind to finish watching King of Masked Singers!
At the moment, uproars occurred in many of the dormitories!
Many students were screaming one after the other!
"That was so exciting to watch!"
"Ahhhh!"
"Professor Zhang is so cool!"
"I can feel my blood coursing through my veins in excitement!"
"Me too! I had an eargasm!"
"How exhilarating! That was so damn exhilarating!"
...
When the last song was performed, the emotions of every single viewer around the country watching on Beijing Television reached a crazy high!
"Much thanks
"for going through thick and thin with me.
"Thank the Heavens
"that I have you to understand me.
"Please raise your hands and wave them again for me!
"Then I will know just where you are standing!"
Zhang Ye's fanbase numbers exploded!
The most direct indicator was the number of followers on his Weibo, which had already reached an alarming 25 million people. In the few days after Zhang Ye had taken off his mask during the King of Masked Singers grand finals, his follower count on Weibo had increased by about a million per day. It could be said that this growth was defying the heavens to the extreme!
"Zhang Ye, you're fantastic!"
"Teacher Zhang, we should be the ones thanking you! It was you who went through thick and thin with us! It's you who understands us!"
"As long as you're around, we'll raise our hands and forever wave them for you!"
"Right, forever!"
"What an impact!"
"Why wasn't I present that day?!"
Back at home.
Zhang Ye was currently on the phone with Hu Fei.
Zhang Ye said in surprise: "Why did it get broadcast?"
Hu Fei laughed and said: "How could we not include such impactful scenes?"
Zhang Ye said nervously: "I thought you stopped recording?"
"We did say so at first. But when you opened your mouth to sing, I quickly got the staff to turn on all the cameras." Hu Fei laughed and said: "If this part had been lost, it would have been such a shame."
Zhang Ye gave a wry smile and said: "The musical accompaniment was not clear enough and the noise from the rain was so loud that it affected the microphone's reception. My singing was also just average, so I'm not satisfied with how I did."
Hu Fei said: "Look at how the stadium was at the time. There were so many people who were moved by the performance, and you're still saying that it's only average? Everyone, including me, felt that it was very good. I can guarantee that even if you had recorded the songs in a studio, you would not be able to get such a good atmosphere like we had from the live audience. The musical accompaniment could be improved on and the environmental noise like the rain could be removed, but we won't be able to replicate the same kind of atmosphere and impact it had on the audience. Therefore, this is already the best version there is!"
Zhang Ye laughed and said: "I guess. You're the executive director, so your say is what matters."
...
On the same night.
At 12 AM.
Weibo buzzed with activity.
"It's almost out!"
"Are the latest celebrity rankings out yet?"
"Not yet."
"I wonder if Zhang Ye's name will be there after the rankings are refreshed today."
"It hasn't been fixed yet? Didn't they say it would be out by this week?"
"Yeah, it's already Saturday. Why hasn't it been updated yet?"
"How much will Zhang Ye's popularity score increase by?!"
Many of Zhang Ye's fans were waiting at their computers and constantly refreshing the ranking index. They really wanted to know what Zhang Ye's ranking was now!
It wasn't only Zhang Ye's fans.
There were also netizens from everywhere else.
And those industry insiders from the entertainment industry.
Everyone was getting really curious because Zhang Ye's performance on King of Masked Singers was simply too shocking. The show had created yet another viewership legend with the published nationwide viewership rating of the grand finals' live broadcast standing at 3.89% and setting a new record in the process. Coupled with several billion views online throughout the entire run of the show, it could be said that the majority of people had watched the show. Together with the farewell concert, everyone was wondering just how popular Zhang Ye had gotten!
At 12:05 AM.
The rankings were suddenly updated!
There were exclamations throughout Weibo!
"The rankings are out!"
"The updated rankings are out!"
"It has been updated!"
"Zhang Ye's name is in there!"
"The rankings have been fixed!"
"Holy shit! Quickly have a look!"
On the latest Celebrity Rankings Index, Zhang Ye's ranking had vanished from the last two places on the A-list rankings!
He overtook one person!
He overtook five people!
He overtook ten people!
Jiang Hanwei.
Huo Dongfang.
Zhang Ye jumped past all of them in one leap!
At this moment, Zhang Ye's name glittered at the third spot on the A-list Celebrity Rankings. There were only two people ahead of him. One of them was a superstar who was ranked first on the A-list and the other was Ning Lan, who was ranked second!
He had reached the top of the A-list rankings!
Zhang Ye had reached the top of the A-list rankings in the span of one night!
He was nearing the S-list Heavenly Kings and Queens in front of him!
No one had experienced such an explosive one-time surge in their popularity before. At the level of the A-list Celebrity Rankings, the difference in the popularity scores that separated each position was enormous. Some people might be able to jump from the E-list to the C-list celebrity rankings overnight, but the popularity score difference for such a jump would probably not even compare to the difference in popularity scores between the last and third to last places on the A-list Celebrity Rankings! At the level of the A-listers, every step taken was fraught with difficulty! It would require a massive leap in popularity in order to surpass the person ahead in the rankings. As such, before the appearance of Zhang Ye, there hadn't really been any major changes in the A-list Celebrity Rankings for many years!
But now the wolf arrived!
On this night, Zhang Ye's ranking moved up by more than 10 spots!
The netizens were shocked.
"Oh my God!"
"Third? He's ranked third in the A-list rankings?"
"Zhang Ye has entered the ranks of the superstars?"
"Holy shit, that was too fast! That was too fucking fast!"
"Dammit! Zhang Ye is really too heaven defying!"
"The difference between an A-list celebrity's popularity score can be huge and on a completely different level. A celebrity at the bottom of the A-list rankings would at most be considered a big name or big shot. Only the top three A-list celebrities are considered superstars! And yet, Teacher Zhang reached that spot in just one night? I'm floored!"
"This is too frightening!"
"Teacher Zhang has ascended to the thrones of the superstars!"
"How long has it been since he was promoted to A-list? And now, he's almost reaching the top?"
"Ahhhh!"
The industry was also in a state of shock!
They had thought about how Zhang Ye's popularity might surge by a lot, and that it might even be an unprecedented kind of surge. But still, they never expected it to increase by so much!
Third in the A-list rankings?
A domestic superstar?
This was simply unbelievable!
China's ranks of superstars had actually ushered in a "raffish"...host!?