Chương 199: ### Chapter 197: The Gift of a Golden Belt?
Week six of the release of *Onward*.
Link initially faced a barrage of criticism and negative press, leading to a significant dip in album sales.
However, with the release of *See You Again*, album sales surged again.
On the sales chart, a big '√' symbol appeared, marking a strong reversal.
In the sixth week, *Onward* sold 259,000 copies, maintaining its position as Billboard's Album Chart champion for three weeks in a row.
The runner-up was Grizzly Bear's album *Veckatimest*, with first-week sales of 136,000 copies.
Third place went to Maxwell's *BLACKsummers'night*, with second-week sales of 107,000 copies.
*The Blueprint 3* fell to fourth place, with sales of 74,000 copies.
*Onward* had accumulated sales of 2.25 million copies in the U.S., becoming the sixth album of 2009 to surpass the two million mark.
Link also became the fastest artist to achieve double platinum status with two albums in the U.S., taking just nine months.
In addition, by the sixth week of release, international sales of the album had also been tallied, reaching 2.757 million copies in the first month—91,000 more than the first album.
The largest contribution came from Asia, where 1.35 million copies were sold in China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, and other countries, doubling the sales of the first album.
Due to the high sales in Asia, during the fifth week's giveaway of an Olympic gold medal, Link drew a serial number for an album sold in China. That gold medal was subsequently given to a fan in China.
It was reported that when the Olympic gold medal was returned to China, it caused a great stir locally.
Many media outlets reported that the gold medal, originally from China, had returned there by coincidence, akin to the historical story of "returning the jade to Zhao."
Additionally, the gold medal originally belonged to Michael Phelps, which Link had won and later gave back to China through the lottery.
The story behind this gold medal was fascinating, and its market value was expected to be no less than $100,000.
Many collectors expressed strong interest in the Olympic gold medal and wanted to buy it at a high price, but the fan, who was not short of money, insisted on keeping it and would not sell it.
The news of the Olympic gold medal giveaway was widely covered by major media outlets around the world.
Fans from different countries flooded Link's Twitter with comments, urging him to participate in more sports events and championships to win more gold medals.
Some fans even asked him to participate in more events at the next Olympics to win more medals so everyone would have a chance.
This comment received over 100,000 likes within 24 hours.
Furthermore, some fans had even grander ideas, suggesting that Link, not only a swimmer but also a world boxing champion, should also include a championship belt in the lottery.
This comment also received significant support.
Link discussed this idea with Ivanka and Franco, both of whom agreed.
The world championship belt is a gold-plated leather artifact, not pure gold.
In various organizations, there are more than one belt per weight class.
As long as a boxer wins a championship title, they can obtain a belt for $2,000.
Even if defeated by an opponent, they can still keep a belt as a souvenir.
In terms of intrinsic value, it is even less than a world championship gold medal.
For the champion, the symbolic significance outweighs the practical value.
However, for boxing fans, having an authentic championship belt engraved with the champion's name would be an incredible gift.
Link responded to fans, agreeing to the idea.
He informed all fans who wanted the WBA World Championship Belt, regardless of nationality, age, or gender, to record a boxing training video of over 30 seconds before December 20. Any form of training and any equipment were acceptable as long as it was boxing-related.
On Christmas Eve, he would draw one lucky fan from the top 300 most-viewed boxing videos using video numbers.
He also mentioned that he would participate in two championship unification bouts within the year and was confident of winning more than four championship belts.
The remaining belts would also be given away through a lottery.
Fans reacted enthusiastically to his response.
What started as a casual suggestion quickly turned into a commitment, with Link preparing to give away all the boxing championship belts.
Within an hour, there were over 60,000 comments and more than 150,000 shares in the comment section.
Other singers' fans shared his response with their favorite artists, urging them to follow Link's lead by participating in sports events and boxing matches to win medals and belts for their fans.
Other artists stated they could not do that.
Familiar artists like Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry warned him through various channels, advising him not to go too far. They felt he was engaging in unfair competition and could risk public backlash.
Taylor was the most reactive; every time she saw fans urging her to learn from her boyfriend, she would clench her fists and vent her frustration at Link.
After communication between Dynasty Promotion Company and YouTube's operations department, Link officially announced a new lottery activity on Twitter:
Fans could shoot boxing training videos for a chance to win an authentic WBA World Championship Belt, along with other championship belts.
After posting on Twitter, the comments continued to increase.
The most significant change occurred on YouTube, where a separate section was created for boxing videos.
Fans wishing to participate in the lottery could upload their videos to this section.
The first video in this section was Link's own boxing training video, lasting 50 minutes.
In the video, he detailed his training methods, fitness routines, equipment usage, boxing training tips, and competition rules.
The video surpassed 2 million views on the first day of upload, with over 1.3 million likes. Many commented that the video was too long and planned to watch it later.
Following his video, over 200 boxing training videos were uploaded to this section.
From the training locations and equipment in the videos, it was clear that most were amateur boxers, boxing enthusiasts, and even professional boxers.
Because Link's boxing section provided significant exposure for boxers, some online expressed their respect for him.
*Ring* magazine praised Link in a new issue, stating that his methods significantly increased public interest and attention in boxing, and that promoting boxing was something a champion should do.
Fisher Dogg, the editor-in-chief of *Ring* magazine, praised Link as a true boxing champion.
Special commentator Rafael Varane also expressed his pleasure at seeing Link, despite his superstardom, actively promoting boxing with such enthusiasm, calling him forever the pride of Miami.
Boxing magazines such as *The Ring*, *KO*, and *World Boxing*, under Oscar De La Hoya, also reported on YouTube's new boxing section, giving it strong approval and support.
De La Hoya uploaded a boxing training video to the section and stated he would not participate in the lottery.
Others like Tyson, Holyfield, Mario, Reggie, Morales, Andre Berto, and Andzej also uploaded training videos in support but stated they would not participate in the lottery.
Due to the varied nature of these videos—some from professional champions, some from amateurs, and some from regular people—YouTube's tech department suggested separating the videos into categories: professional, amateur, and boxing enthusiasts.
Link agreed to this suggestion, stating that for fairness, the lottery would be conducted only among amateur and boxing enthusiast videos.
This proposal was well-received by fans.
(End of this Chapter)
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