Jay Chou Photo: CFP

The difference between social media celebrities and traditional stars became a hot topic last weekend as singer Jay Chou from the island of Taiwan soared to the top of discussions on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo.  

Through nearly 75 million credits and more than 3 million followers, Chou overtook idol Cai Xukun on Sunday morning after a fierce 16-hour online popularity battle among fans. Cai mustered 5.6 million credits and 4.5 million followers.  

The hashtag "Jay Chou fans are pushed to do business" was viewed 1.8 billion times. 

The contest started from July 16 when an internet user asked on Chinese media review site Douban why it was so difficult to buy concert tickets to Chou when it seemed he was not so popular on Weibo. 

This provoked a contest between traditional singers who attract fans with products and social media celebrities who first gather online attention  then use it to cash in. 

Some Chou fans said that the reason they devoted so much to the campaign was to show younger fans that social media did not mean everything. 

The online data on singers and actors with proper professional performance skills is possibly not so good on social media, analysts said, but the popularity they earned among the public with excellent products was not available to online celebrities who rely on fans to fake data on Weibo.