Joker Xue

In 2005, Xue participated in the singing competition show 我型我秀 My Style, My Show and released his self-titled debut album "薛之谦" Xue Zhiqian as Jacky Xue the following year. His debut album sold over 200,000 copies within a month and a half and included major hits such as "认真的雪" Serious Snow, "黄色枫叶" Yellow Maple Leaves.[3]. The same year, he was awarded the Most Popular New Artist at the 6th Global Chinese Music Awards.[4]

In 2007, Xue recorded his second album "你过得好吗" How Are You, which sold 150,000 copies within one month of its release.[5]. He made history by receiving seven nominations at the Beijing Pop Music Awards, which established his reputation as a promising singer-songwriter. [6] He headlined his first concert in Shanghai on December 20.

In 2008, Xue released his third album "深深爱过你" Loved You Deeply. After listening to the song "传说" Legend in this album, Shinji Tanimura was impressed by Xue's compositions and invited him to the Asia Music Festival held in Osaka, Japan.[7] Xue was honored as a torchbearer for the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay.[8] In 2009, Xue released a compilation album "未完成的歌" Unfinished Songs, comprised of selected tracks from several of his albums, along with three new songs.

In 2010, new management of his company was unwilling to fund Xue's album despite his previous successes. Xue, wishing to continue his music career, afforded all the expenditure to produce and advertise his album. During this period, he fell into depression, and lost weight sharply during those days.[9]

Xue continued to self-fund his music by opening his own hotpot restaurant 上上谦, its success allowed him to keep pursuing music. He also appeared on Chinese variety shows, which can be quite harsh and punishing to the guests. On such shows, he was asked to eat inedible items (e.g. lipstick, glasses, paper, and centipedes) and to open a durian using his bare hands or his head. Reflecting back on those years, Xue said "If I go to more reality shows, I will definitely go insane, but appearing on these reality shows and acting like a crazy man have given me two things: making money for creating new songs and keeping exposure during the time when no new music production is published."[10]

In 2012, Xue released his fifth album, "几个薛之谦" Several Xue Zhiqians. That year also marked the end of his seven-year contract with "上腾娱乐" Shangteng Entertainment, which went out of business soon after he left. It is worth noting that he is the only artist who debuted via 我型我秀 My Style, My Show to fulfill the entirety of his contract as the others had terminated their contracts earlier by paying the penalty. Xue stated he chose to honor it because they opened the door to his music career. [11]

In 2013, Xue released his sixth album "意外" An Unexpected Journey, under the record company Ocean Butterflies.[12] Notable songs from the album include "丑八怪" Ugly and "你还要我怎样" What Do You Want Me To Do, which have more than 76 million and 42 million views on YouTube, respectively.[13][14]

In 2015, Xue established his own streetwear brand Dangerous People. That same year, Xue released an EP, "绅士" Gentleman, which contained three tracks, one of which is the highly popular song "演员" Actor. The music video for "演员" has been viewed over 212 million times on YouTube.[15]

Xue in 2017

In 2016, Xue produced his seventh album "初学者" Beginner, which includes three songs from the EP "绅士" and the notable single "剛剛好" Just Right. The music video for "剛剛好" has over 50 million views on YouTube.[16] In the list of the top ten internet celebrities with the most marketing value, Xue ranked at number ten.[17] Despite the success of his songs, Xue pushed himself to appear in more than 40 variety shows in order to maintain exposure and for the audience to connect his name to his music.

In 2017, Xue released his eighth album "渡" The Crossing. Songs favored by critics from this album include “高尚” Noble and “动物世界” Animal World, both reflecting and critiquing the darker side of human nature. In the same year, Xue held his first concert tour "我好像在哪见过你巡回演唱会" I Think I've Seen You Somewhere Tour, which was very well-received. [18] At the 2017 Kugou Music Awards, he was recognized as the most popular male solo singer of the year in terms of total plays, downloads, and searches.[19]

In 2018, Xue announced he would decrease his variety show appearances to better focus on music and he suffered from laryngitis for several months before making a full recovery.[20]. He released his ninth album "怪咖" Freak with songs like “摩天大楼” Skyscraper and “肆无忌惮” Reckless incorporating different musical elements, while “最好” The Best featured a more balladic composition. He ranked first amongst solo artists in terms highest cumulative playback volume on QQ Music for the second consecutive year.[21] Later that year, he embarked on his "摩天大楼世界巡回演唱会" Skyscraper World Tour.

In 2019, after concluding his "摩天大楼世界巡回演唱会" Skyscraper World Tour that spanned spanned China, North America, Australia, and Europe, Xue released his tenth album "尘" Dust, which contained ten songs. He was named Male Singer of the Year at CMIC Music Awards, a prestigious award modelled after The Grammys and The BRIT Awards with the aim of creating a more fair evaluation of music without influences from sponsors and focusing on artistry over entertainment[22]

In 2020, Xue released his eleventh album "天外来物" Alien From The Sky, which contained ten songs. However, only nine are available for streaming in the US as "小尖尖" is unavailable on Spotify or Apple Music. "天外来物" Alien From The Sky was named one of the Best Songs of the Year and Xue won awards as "The Most Covered Singer on WeSing" and "Most Influential Male Singer (Mainland China)" at the 2021 Tencent Music Entertainment Awards.[23]

Xue began on his Extraterrestrial World Tour in October 2021, which began at the Suzhou Sports Center in Suzhou. In 2022, he performed at Wuyuan River Stadium. [24]Due to COVID-19 restrictions, he only held four shows in 2021 and one show in 2022.

The Extraterrestrial World Tour fully took off in 2023. Xue headlined 75 shows, with consecutive shows at most stops and a series of three consecutive shows at the Beijing National Stadium on August 11-13, 2023, attracting around 60,000 people per show.[25]. Many of the Chinese cities he toured in were categorized by Chinese city tier system as second- and third- tier cities, typically not sites for large-scale consecutive concerts. Quzhou, a third-tier city and the first stop of Xue's 2023 shows, placed first as fastest-growing city in the country’s box office rankings and prompted Quzhou News Media Center voicing their gratitude to Xue in a video on their official Douyin account[26].

On April 21, 2024, Xue performed the 100th show of the Extraterrestrial World Tour in Luoyang, becoming the sixth Chinese artist to reach the milestone of 100 shows in a single tour. As of May, 2024, the Extraterrestrial World Tour spanned 30 of the 34 Province-level divisions of China.

In 2022, Xue released his twelfth album, "无数" Countless, which included ten songs, including the lead single "变废为宝" Turning Waste Into Treasure, "可" But featuring Jane Zhang, and "你不是一个人" You Are Not Alone featuring Jeff Chang.[27] At the 15th Migu Music Awards, "变废为宝" Turning Waste Into Treasure was named one of the Best Songs of the Year and Xue won Best Male Singer; Xue's previous album "天外来物" Alien From The Sky won Album of the Year (Male Singer). [28]

In 2023, Xue released "银河少年" Youth of the Galaxy[29], "Nothing"[30], "崇拜" Worship[31], "念" Idea[32], and "情书" Love Letter.[33] In 2024, Xue released "AI". [34]