''Lay 02 Sheep'' is the first

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Chinese rapper and singer Lay Zhang. It was released on October 7, 2017 in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

SM Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies where it was established in 1995 by record executive and record producer Lee Soo-man. The company ha ...

. The album features ten tracks in total, including the two singles " I Need U" and "

Sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

Background and release

On September 21, Lay and S.M. Entertainment released teaser images for the album on different social media platforms. On September 25, the single "I Need U" was released as Lay's gift to his grandparents' on their 50th wedding anniversary. On September 27, it was confirmed by S.M. Entertainment that Lay will be releasing his second album ''Lay 02 Sheep'' on October 7, 2017. Lay was a producer and personally executed the composition, arrangement and lyrics writing of all the songs as well as the directing of the music videos. On October 6, 2017 S.M. Entertainment released a teaser for the music video of "Sheep". ''Lay 02 Sheep'' was officially released on October 7 (Lay's birthday) through online stores.

Singles

The music video for "I Need U" ranked #1 on Billboard's

Weibo Live Chart. In 12 hours, it hit more than 26 million views online, consecutively being the major 3 music chart's winner. "I Need U" charted in 17 countries and ranked #1 on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

in 12 countries, including the United States, Canada, Malaysia, Portugal, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Hong Kong, China and more.

Promotion

On October 7, Lay performed a flash mob of "Sheep" in

Sanlitun Sanlitun () is an area of the Chaoyang District, Beijing containing many bars, restaurants, and stores. It is a popular destination for shopping, dining, and entertainment. The area has been under almost constant regeneration since the la ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. The album premiere, "2017 Zhang Yixing Showcase" was held at the

Beijing National Aquatics Center The National Aquatics Centre (), and colloquially known as the Water Cube () and the Ice Cube (), is an aquatics center at the Olympic Green in Beijing, China. The facility was originally constructed to host the aquatics competitions at the ...

on October 12. On October 21, Lay kickstarted the first stop of his "Lay 02 Sheep Signing Promo" at Hongqiao Art Centre, Shanghai. The second wing of his "Lay 02 Sheep Signing Promo" continued at Shenzhen on October 29. On November 5, the "Lay 02 Sheep Signing Promo" was wrapped up at Changsha, Hunan. He subsequently performed the song at the reality talent show, ''The Next Season 2'' on Dragon TV which he guested''.'' On December 31, Lay performed "Sheep", "Boss" and "Mask" on Hunan TV's Year End Concert.

Commercial performance

On its first day of digital sales, the album broke 5 records on

QQ Music QQ Music () is one of the three Chinese freemium music streaming services owned by Tencent Music, a joint venture between Tencent and Spotify. As of 2018, the service is set to reach over 700 million users with an estimated 120 million subscribe ...

: Gold (¥250,000 in 30 seconds), Double Gold (¥500,000 in 45 seconds), Triple Gold (¥750,000 in 52 seconds), Platinum (¥1 million in 1 minute 10 seconds) and Diamond Record (¥5 million in 9 hours 11 minutes). The album later broke a Double Diamond (¥70 million) record on May 3, 2018. The album entered iTunes Worldwide at #9, being the first Chinese singer to enter iTunes Worldwide Top 10 Albums list. Within 2 hours, the album ranked #1 on iTunes in 10 countries including Japan, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and more.

Billboard China ''Billboard'' China () was a Chinese online music magazine founded by Vision Media Group on September 5, 2016. It served as the Chinese version of ''Billboard'', also featuring independent coverage of both Chinese and international music conten ...

ranked the lead song, "Sheep" at #2 on the Top 10 Chinese Songs of 2017.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sales

Release history

Awards

References

External links

"I Need U" music video
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

"Sheep" music video
on YouTube {{Authority control 2017 debut albums SM Entertainment albums Lay Zhang albums 2017 in Chinese music