Singer (TV series)

Each round of I Am a Singer had seven singers (or eight in some weeks) who performed for a 500-member studio audience each week, whom play a role on deciding the results for the singers. The order that they performed was determined through ballot or based on prior performances, depending on each week. Each audience member then cast votes for the top three singers of their preference, and these votes were tabulated to determine each singer's placement for the night. Since season 7, with the implementation of Electronic voting (which was conducted thrice throughout the show), each scores accounted a 50% weightage towards final results.

Each season of I Am a Singer was divided into four or five rounds (first 10 or 11 weeks), which consist of usually non-elimination "Qualifiers" and "Knockouts". Votes were accumulative on both rounds and the singer receiving a lower count of votes at the end of the Knockout round was eliminated. Eliminated singers were entitled to a Returning Performance on the next show and a chance to return to the competition via the Breakout Round, though eliminations could also be cancelled if another singer chose to withdraw from the competition, or if any contestant was given a bye due to health conditions. At the end of each round, a new singer would take the place of the eliminated/withdrawn singer and the competition cycle would repeat until the final Knockout round was completed. At the end of the episode a table was usually shown to indicate the rankings.

As part of the "2+1" format introduced in the third season, the "Challenge" round followed each Knockout round, where the number of rounds was usually one less than that of Knockout rounds. A new singer (dubbed as "Challenger") would substitute for an eliminated singer during the start of the round, and was given a challenge in which the singer was required to beat a majority of the singers (finishing within top four or better) or facing elimination; if the challenger succeeds, any incumbent singers were eligible for elimination which was decided on which singers received a lower count of votes for this round alone (votes cast for the Challenge round were factored independently of combined votes from the Qualifier/Knockouts). Season 5 replaced Qualifiers with Challenge rounds immediately after the first Knockout round to accommodate two substitute singers coming to the competition (one of which was a challenger). Season 6 temporarily revised the format, where the challenger enters the competition during the Knockouts and had to avoid last place on their first week in addition to finishing in the top four on the second week (in a combination of both Knockout and Challenge rounds); failing either challenge eliminated the singer immediately. However, in Season 7, due to the season-exclusive Pre-Challenge Face-off (see twists below), the challenge round format was reverted to the season 3 to 5 format, with the challenger winning the face-off immediately facing the Challenge round. The Challenge round was absent in Season 8, instead replacing with another variant round (see Twists below).

"Breakout" round follows after the last Knockout round, which featured previously eliminated singers (except withdrawn singers) performing for a chance to return to the game and take part in the finals. During the inaugural season, Breakout rounds was called "Revival" and all remaining singers were exempt from this round, leaving eliminated singers to compete for the only place in the Semi-Finals. Beginning in the second season, the rules were modified for the remaining singers based on the entry status: initial singers (singers who entered the competition on week 1) were exempt from the Breakout rounds while other singers were required to participate the Breakout round to vie for the number of places, which was determined by how many initial singers were exempt, to complete the sever-singer lineup (with the exception of season 5 as the number of finalists briefly increased to ten). The outcome was decided on which singers received a higher count of votes, and the singers who were successful on the "Breakouts" were qualified (along with exempted singers) in the Finals. Since Season 6, additional twists were also featured where singers receiving a lower count of votes in a prior voting immediately losing the Breakout regardless of the outcome. Since Season 7, only contestants that were given full contestant status were eligible to participate in the Breakouts, making the first season not all eliminated singers (outside withdrawn singers) were eligible.

The last stage of the competition, the Finals, was usually divided into Semi-Finals and the live-broadcast Grand Finals, held on two separate nights. The finalists had to sing from two to three songs (one duet and one or two solo performances), with audience voting for their performances in-between each round. For the first two seasons, the scores were weighted in favor of the final performance (30%–30%–40%), but subsequent seasons used the sum of the votes (or since Season 6, only the final round votes) cast to determine the winner of the season.

The Chinese version is produced by Hong Tao, and its music director is Hong Kong senior musician Kubert Leung. Each season feature changes and twists to competitions and last between 12 and 14 episodes, airing between January to April each year.

A total of 112 contestants have competed on I Am a Singer's eight seasons. As of 2021, eight seasons have been broadcast, as summarised below.

Season		Premiere Date	Finale Date	No. of contestants	No. of episodes	Winner	Runner-up	Third place	Other Finalists [upper-alpha 1]	Comments
	1	18 January 2013	12 April 2013	12	13	Yu Quan	Terry Lin	For the first two seasons, there were only two "Ultimate Winner Candidates".	Winnie Hsin Huang Qishan Julia Peng Aska Yang Zhou Xiao'ou	Only season to feature Pot Luck.
	2	3 January 2014	11 April 2014	12	14	Han Lei	G.E.M.		Phil Chang Gary Chaw Shila Amzah Jason Zhang Bibi Zhou	Introduced new Breakout round format and Biennial Concert.
	3	2 January 2015	3 April 2015	13	14	Han Hong	Li Jian	The One	A-Lin Tiger Hu Sitar Tan Sun Nan	Introduced Contestant Hosting roles, Challenge Rounds and Singer Voting, and replaced weighted finals percentage with combined votes.
	4	15 January 2016	8 April 2016	14	14	Coco Lee	Jeff Chang	Hwang Chi Yeul	LaLa Hsu Lao Lang Hacken Lee Joey Yung	First season with eight initial singers, and an online spin-off I Am a Singer – Who Will Challenge.
	5	21 January 2017	22 April 2017	16[upper-alpha 2]	14	Sandy Lam	Dimash Kudaibergen	Lion	Li Jian Terry Lin Diamond Zhang Tia Ray Jason Zhang	Series renamed to Singer First season to feature returning singers from previous seasons, and increased number of finalists.
	6	12 January 2018	20 April 2018	14	14	Jessie J	Hua Chenyu	Wang Feng	Tengger Angela Chang Henry Huo James Li	Only season to feature modifications of Challenge round lasting two shows, Pre-audience Voting, and first season to feature midway eliminations in Breakout round.
	7	11 January 2019	12 April 2019	17[upper-alpha 3][upper-alpha 4]	14	Liu Huan	Wu Tsing-fong	Super-Vocal finalists	Yang Kun Chyi Yu Gong Linna Polina Gagarina	Introduced Electronic voting feature, online spin-off National's Recommended Singer, and online voting (semi-finals only).
	8	7 February 2020	24 April 2020	21[upper-alpha 5][upper-alpha 6]	12	Hua Chenyu	Tia Ray	Jam Hsiao	Jike Junyi Lala Hsu Misia Charlie Zhou	Subtitled Singer: Year of the Hits Second season to feature returning contestants; first season to feature variant to Challenge round (Surprise Challenge) First season without Return Performances

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