Della Ding's Soul Mate At Number 1

Mainland-born singer Della Ding (叮当) has climbed to the top of Taiwan's G Music album charts with her new release Soul Mate (未來的情人). In the first two weeks of its release it was the number 2 selling album in Taiwan, but this week managed to edge past the previous number 1, Wilbur Pan's 808, in sales. According to G Music Soul Mate had 21.23 percent of album sales for the week 4 February to 10 February, while 808 had 20.37 percent, ending Pan's three-week stay at the top of the charts.

Della Ding is also known as Della Wu, also known as Ding Dang, and also known simply as Della, and though it sounds like a criminal's rap sheet, she's actually a petite 28 year old from Zhejiang province. She ran away from home at the age of 18 with dreams of becoming a professional singer. For five years she sang in bars, took singing and dancing lessons, then made the big move to Mandopop headquarters, Taiwan. She released her first album in 2007, appropriately named Run Away From Home, on the record label Rock Records, Taiwan's biggest independent record label.

She is best known for her love ballads, especially on her early records, although she included more dance numbers on her third album, Night Owl released in 2009. She has also collaborated with record label-mates Mayday on several songs, and sung the theme song to the popular TV drama Autumn's Concerto. Her career appears to be going from strength to strength, with a successful concert tour in 2010. Soul Mate, her fifth studio album might just be the record that propels her to superstar status.

Helping out on the album are Mayday, again, UK dance music producer Pete Martin, and Golden Melody winning songwriter Chung Cheng-Hu. Singles released so far are One Half (一半), a slow tempo ballad, and Cold Blooded Creature (冷血動物) which has been used in an online computer game (阿洛斯) and also featured in the Korean drama series The Queen Returns.