Tencent Music facts for kids
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Formerly
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China Music Corporation |
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| Public | |
| Traded as | NYSE: TME (ADS) SEHK: 1698 |
| Predecessor | China Music Corporation Tencent's QQ Music division |
| Founded | July 2016 |
| Headquarters | Shenzhen, Guangdong, China |
| Products | QQ Music, Kugou, Kuwo, WeSing, Ultimate Music |
| Revenue |  CN¥31.24 billion (2021) |
| Owners |
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Number of employees
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5,966 (December 2021) |
| Parent | Tencent Interactive Entertainment Group |
Tencent Music Entertainment Group, or TME, is a big company in China. It creates popular apps for listening to music online. TME owns famous music apps like QQ Music, KuGou, Kuwo, and WeSing. These apps have over 800 million active users. More than 120 million people pay to use their music services. In July 2016, TME's services were used by about 56% of all music streaming users in China.
In early 2021, Tencent Music shared that it had 60.9 million paying users. This was a big increase from the 42.7 million paying users in early 2020. The total number of people using their music streaming services was 615 million. This was a small decrease from 657 million users in early 2020.
Contents
How Tencent Music Started
Tencent Music was created in July 2016. This happened when Tencent bought China Music Corporation. Tencent wanted to make its music services even better.
In July 2018, Sony/ATV Music Publishing bought a part of Tencent Music. This meant they became a shareholder in the company. In October 2018, TME planned to offer its shares to the public in the United States. This is called an IPO.
In December 2018, the company announced its IPO. The total value of the shares was about $1.23 billion. Each share was priced between $13 and $15.
In January 2019, SM Entertainment, a large entertainment company from South Korea, partnered with Tencent Music. This partnership helped with music distribution and marketing in China.
In June 2020, the Government of India blocked QQ Music. They also blocked 58 other apps from China. This was due to concerns about data and privacy. Tensions between India and China around that time may have also played a role.
As of 2023, Spotify owns 16.47% of Tencent Music's shares.
In May 2025, Hybe Corporation announced it sold all its shares in SM Entertainment to Tencent Music. In June 2025, it was announced that Tencent Music bought Ximalaya.
Music Charts by TME
Tencent Music has four main music charts. These charts help show which songs are most popular. The TME UNI Chart started in 2018. The TME Wave Chart began in 2020. The TME Physical Album Sales Chart launched in 2021. The TME Korean Chart started in 2024.
Since 2019, Tencent Music has released an annual report about Chinese digital music. This report lists the top songs, albums, and artists. It uses information from the TME UNI Chart and TME Wave Chart.
TME UNI Chart: What's Popular?
The name UNI sounds like "up to you" in Chinese. This means the chart is based on what listeners like. The TME UNI Chart has two lists: the Real-time List and the Past List. The Real-time List shows the top 200 songs. It updates every ten minutes. The Past List shows the top 100 songs from each week, from Monday to Sunday.
In 2023, Tencent Music Entertainment Group teamed up with Billboard. Now, the TME UNI Chart is part of Billboard's global music charts.
To be on this chart, songs must be new. They must have been released on Tencent Music's platform within the last six weeks. Some types of songs are not allowed on the chart. These include songs without clear owners or songs with inappropriate lyrics. Live versions or incomplete songs are also not included.
Songs are ranked based on how many times they are streamed. They are also ranked by social media activity and sales. This data comes from apps like QQ Music, KuGou Music, KuWo Music, WeSing, Joox, Weibo Music, and Weixin Video Account.
TME Wave Chart: Expert Picks
The TME Wave Chart is a monthly list of top songs in China. It is created based on scores and ideas from over 250 music experts.
TME Korean Chart: K-Pop in China
The TME Korean Chart ranks the most popular Korean songs in China. It uses data from QQ Music, KuGou Music, KuWo Music, Polka Dot, and Joox. It also uses information from Circle Chart and Hanteo Chart.
This chart also has a Real-time List and a Past List. The Real-time List shows the top 200 songs and updates often. The Past List shows the top 100 songs from each week. Songs are ranked based on streaming (50%), sales (30%), and social activities (20%).
There are rules about how long a song can stay on the chart. For example, after 12 weeks, songs can still chart. But after 26 weeks, songs that fall out of the Top 100 cannot re-enter.
TME Physical Album Sales Chart
The TME Physical Album Sales Chart ranks how many physical music albums are sold. It uses sales data from QQ Music and KuGou Music. This chart has weekly, monthly, annual, and overall lists.
