Yung, Koo top HK sales music awards

More than 50 pop singers and leading Cantonese Opera performers from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan lit up the Hong Kong Queen Elizabeth Stadium on Friday night at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's (IFPI) top sales awards ceremony.

Leo Koo

Joey Yung

Hong Kong's Best-Selling Male Singer was Leo Koo, while Joey Yung was crowned Best-Selling Female Singer. Jacky Cheung's "Live Performance" and Jay Chou's "2004 Taipei Concert" were the best-selling Cantonese and Mandarin albums. 　　

Koo was the year's top-selling singer overall, with three of his albums among the top 10 Cantonese releases. The IFPI’s Hong Kong group didn’t detail sales figures. 　　

In the Cantonese category, Beyond, Twins, Faye Wong, Hacken Lee, Joey Yung, Jacky Cheung and Eason Chan received awards for best-selling records. 　　

Two of Jay Chou’s albums, "2004 Taipei Concert" and "November’s Chopin," were among the top 10 Mandarin albums. 　

Jay Chow 

The other eight awards for Best- Selling Mandarin Albums went to FIR, S.H.E., Twins, Lee Hom, Faye Wong, Stefanie Sun, David Tao and Rainie Yang. 　　

Jacky Cheung told the Shenzhen Daily that he’s rarely attended award ceremonies in recent years, "But I’m happy to attend this event, since there is no office politics, only music." 　　

Cheung also said he hopes his next album will be finished this summer. 　　

Jay Chou is another eye-catching superstar backstage. After performing in the ceremony, Chou was surrounded by dozens of reporters from Hong Kong and mainland media. 　　

This is the fourth year that Chou has received the IFPI top sales award. When asked whether he feels pressure to keep this record, Chou smiled, "Sure." 　　

He elaborated: "However, sales are what matter for me when paparazzi keep following me and put rumors in newspapers. As long as the sales are good, I can endure the paparazzi." Chou said he believed he was followed on an airplane from Taipei to Hong Kong. Later, Tom.com posted Chou’s picture snapped by a photographer on the plane. 　　

Chou also said that his next film, "The City of Golden Armor," will be released in July and he expected to finish his next recording after the shooting. 　　

Joey Yung and Twins are frequent best-selling artists, but Rainie Yang was surprised to be an awardee. "It’s my first album and my first top-selling award," the 22-year-old Taiwanese girl said. She started out as a singer with the ex-band 4 In Love when she was 16.