10 Most Famous Chinese singers

Jacky Cheung from Cheeweng – Wikimedia Commons

10 Most Famous Chinese singers

There are few nations on this planet that have as rich of musical history as China. Chinese artists are well known for digging into that history and joining some of the most traditional aspects with modern music to create genres that continue to enrich the world. 

The modernization of Chinese music involved the adoption of some aspects of Western forms and values, such as the use of the Western conservatory system of teaching, and changes to the instruments and their tuning, the composition, and the orchestration of music, the notation system, and performance style. Some forms of Chinese music however remained traditional and are little changed.

Here are 10 of the most famous Chinese Singers

1. Teresa Teng

Teresa Teng, was a Taiwanese singer, actress, musician, and philanthropist. Referred to by some as Asia’s eternal queen of pop.  Teng became a cultural icon for her contributions to Mandopop, giving birth to the phrase, “Wherever there are Chinese people, there is the music of Teresa Teng.”

With a career spanning almost 30 years, Teng established herself as a dominant and influential force in Asia throughout most of her career, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, and, to some extent, South Asia. She is often hailed as Asia’s first pop superstar. Teng made music in seven different languages and topped billboard charts across the world. 

2. Jolin Tsai

Jolin Tsai by chungkeng ryu – Wikimedia Commons

Jolin Tsai is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, and actress. Referred to as the “Queen of C-Pop”, she is considered one of the most influential figures in Chinese popular culture. She is known for her continual reinvention and versatility in musical style and visual image, and she has achieved a great reputation and popularity in the Chinese-speaking world. 

Tsai maintains control of every aspect of her career, and she is regarded as a key figure in popularizing dance-pop as mainstream music in Greater China. Her works, which incorporate social themes, have generated both commercial success and critical acclaim.

In 1998, Tsai won a television singing competition produced by MTV Mandarin. Her debut album 1019 in 1999 made her become an instant hit, and her first girl-next-door incarnation made her a teen idol with a huge teenage fanbase. Her album Magic in 2003, which reflected her first musical reinvention, marked the beginning of her dance-oriented musical direction.  Her album Dancing Diva in 2006, which highly impressed the public with slick dance songs and dazzling dance moves, established her representative status as a dance-pop artist in the Chinese music scene.

3. Jacky Cheung

Jacky Cheung Hok-yau is a Hong Kong singer and actor. Dubbed the “God of Songs”, he is regarded as one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Hong Kong pop music. Cheung is known for his technically skilled vocals, lengthy tours, and multimillion-selling albums.

His successful music and acting career have made Cheung one of Hong Kong’s icons. He was elected by Time Magazine as one of the “25 most influential people in the New Hong Kong”.Cheung set the Guinness World record for the largest combined audience for a live act in 12 months during his “Jacky Cheung 1/2 Century World Tour”, with 2,048,553 audience members.

4. Jay Chou

Jay Chou at the premiere of “Secret” in Seoul, South Korea, on Jan 10th, 2008 by Achernar – Wikimedia Commons

Jay Chou is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, record producer, rapper, actor, and television personality. Dubbed the “King of Mandopop”, and has sold over 30 million records, Chou is one of the best-selling artists in the Greater China area and is known for his work with lyricist Vincent Fang, with whom he has frequently collaborated on his music.

In 2000, Chou released his debut studio album, Jay, under the record company Alfa Music. Chou rose to fame with the release of his second studio album, Fantasy in 2001, which combined Western and Eastern music styles. The album won five Golden Melody Awards, including Album of the Year. He has since further released twelve more studio albums, spawning a string of hit singles and gaining significant prominence in Asian communities such as Taiwan, Hong Kong SAR, China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Chou has embarked on six world tours, performing in cities around the world to more than 10 million spectators as of 2019.

5. Wong Ka Kui

Wong Ka Kui was a Hong Kong musician, singer, and songwriter. He was a co-founder of the rock band Beyond, where he was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and main songwriter.

Realizing the restriction on original music in Hong Kong, Beyond decided to redirect its career to Japan. In January 1992, Beyond signed a worldwide management contract with the Japanese record label Amuse. During the year, they released an album called Continue the Revolution.

 In May 1993, Beyond returned to Hong Kong with a new album Rock and Roll. Wong’s signature work “Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies” won the Best Original Song award in Hong Kong. Before they went back to Japan, Beyond held unplugged live concerts in Hong Kong and Malaysia, which were Beyond’s last concerts with Wong Ka Kui.

6. Cui Jian

Cui Jian at the 2007 Hohaiyan Gongliau Rock Festival – Wikimedia Commons

Cui Jian is a Beijing-based Chinese singer-songwriter, trumpeter, and guitarist. Affectionately called “Old Cui”, he pioneered Chinese rock music. For this distinction, Cui Jian is often labeled The Father of Chinese Rock. Cui toured all over the world including the United States and Europe four times each and has played numerous shows in East & Southeast Asia. 

Cui’s ability to fuse western styles of music and introduce local influences to it made him a very prominent figure internationally to this day. In 2000 Cui was awarded the prestigious Dutch Prince Claus Award for positive artistic and intellectual influences on the broader culture and society. On 4 December 2009, Cui returned to Taiwan for his second concert there in three years, for the grand opening of the Legacy Taipei.

7. Lu Han

Lu Han, also known mononymously as Luhan, is a Chinese singer and actor. He was a member of the South Korean-Chinese boy group Exo and its sub-group Exo-M, before leaving the group in October 2014. That year, he was ranked the sixth most popular entertainment star in China by China National Radio.

Lu Han’s most popular music video for the song Our Tomorrow exceeded one million views in under an hour. Han has managed to take his successful singing career and propel himself into the acting arena as well. To date, he’s appeared in five movies and various television shows.

8. Li Yuchun

Li Yuchun in FENDI, at 2015 WhyMe Chris Lee Chengdu 10th anniversary concert by Lee Weekly – Wikimedia Commons

Li Yuchun, also known by her stage name Chris Lee, is a Chinese singer, songwriter, DJ, and actress. She launched her singing career by winning first place in the Chinese singing contest Super Girl, in 2005. The following year, she released her debut album The Queen and the Dreams. This stamped her influence on Chinese culture with her stunning vocals and androgynous style. 

Li Yuchun is referred to as the mother of the unisex look in China, she has achieved mainstream success.  She is also known for her lower mezzo-soprano vocal range, a rarity amongst Mainland Chinese female singers. Li Yuchun became the most popular singer in 2016 on Toutiao, China’s major news and information app for mobile devices, which daily attracts about 1.27 billion clicks on Videos, and 230 million of them are relevant to entertainment.

9. Sam Hui

Samuel Hui Koon-kit, usually known as Sam Hui,  is a Hong Kong musician, singer, songwriter and actor. He is credited with popularizing Cantopop both via the infusion of Western-style music and his usage of vernacular Cantonese rather than written vernacular Chinese in biting lyrics that addressed contemporary problems and concerns.

Hui is considered by some to be the first major superstar of Cantopop, known as the God of Song. As an actor, he is well-known for portraying the main character King Kong in five installments of Aces Go Places film series. 

10. Faye Wong

Faye Wong is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actress often referred to as the Diva of Asia. Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong. Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong in 1987 and came to public attention in the early 1990s by singing in Cantonese, often combining alternative music with mainstream Chinese pop. Since 1994, she has recorded mostly in her native Mandarin. In 2000, she was recognized by Guinness World Records as the Best Selling Canto-Pop Female. 

Wong is known to be a diva with few words in public and has gained a reputation for her cool personality. In Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture, Jeroen de Kloet characterized her as a singer, actress, mother, celebrity, royalty, sex symbol, and diva all at the same time. Wong is considered by some as one of East Asia’s biggest pop stars with a career of over 30 years.