Universal Music Denies Bot Allegations on Kris Wu's Album Figures

Kris Wu's Antares
Kris Wu's Antares (photo: Google Screenshot)
By Mei ManuelNovember 9th, 2018

On Wednesday, Universal Music China speaks out about the controversy revolving around Chinese-Canadian singer-songwriter Kris Wu's newest album Antares and denies all the allegations that bots were used to boost sales records and the fact it is no longer available for sale online.

The album was released on November 2 and dominated the iTunes Store Charts last weekend. Seven songs from the album also entered the US iTunes store rankings on Monday, including the song November Rain, which was bought over 14 million times in 24 hours.

However, many suspected that the sales were artificially boosted using bots and later, it was reported that the album was renoved from the iTunes Store.

In a statement, Universal Music China - who signed Wu in April for his international debut - denied rumors and said that Antares is still available in iTunes store and that its sales numbers were legitimate.

In a statement from those fans posted on Twitter under the account for Meigeni Express (meigeni is the nickname for Wu's fans) on Monday, it says: "Kris Wu may be a newcomer in the American industry, however, he has always had a very large and established fan base all over the world...although you may not have heard of him in the mainstream media, it doesn't mean he does not have fans".

Kris Wu was born on November 6, 1990, has 158,000 followers on Twitter and 44.7 million followers on China's Sina Weibo.

Also known as Wu Kris Yifan, the artist is a Chinese-Canadian actor, singer, and model. He is a former member of South Korean-Chinese boy band EXO and its subgroup EXO-M under SM Entertainment.

On his birthday, Wu posted on his Sina Weibo account, which has over 44 million followers, saying, "I spent more than two years working on the album, Antares. I chose 14 songs for the album, which speak for me". He also wrote that "today is my birthday and this album is a special gift to me, which I want to share with my fans".

 

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