In the first week of December 2011, the Billboard Albums Chart was once again announced, with Drake's album "Take-Care" topping the charts and Adele's album "21" remaining at number two, making the 21-year-old the undisputed biggest winner in the music market this year.

However, in the top 10 list, the most striking thing is not Adele, who continues to be strong, nor Derek, who has achieved great results, but "Don Quixote", who has become a new face in the top 10 with 35,000 copies sold this week.

Since the release of "Don Quixote" on August 29, the reputation has continued to rise despite the lack of supporting publicity, not only the rave reviews of the professional media, creating a rare high score in recent years, becoming one of the most popular albums by music critics in the 21st century, but also widely recognized by listeners, and the positive feedback has dominated the major forums, in the fan community, and among the independent music lover community.

Strictly speaking, it's an outright folk album that's even more niche, more understated, and more focused than Jason Mayez back then. From the first song to the last song, from the number of songs as many as sixteen to the core of the theme of double-sided double cultivation, from packaging to pricing, from music style and theme tone, every link and every detail is revealing the self-entertainment of the high and low songs, as if living in a sterile isolated world, reminiscing about the golden age of the seventies and eighties of the last century, immersed in retro melodies and dancing.

In the 21st century, there are actually a dozen or more albums of this genre and style in the field of independent music every year, but most of them are just garage music – music that is not officially processed in the studio, but recorded in the garage. These works can't find a market, they can't find distribution, they can't find a performance stage, and naturally, they can't find a living space.

Ninety percent of these albums may not have been heard of at all, and may just be circulating among underground music lovers in Seattle. Word-of-mouth communication alone can't even get them out of the city's shackles and from Seattle to Houston, let alone across the United States.

Neither does the network of needle-in-a-haystacks.

"Don Quixote" is an outlier. Whether Studio Eleven admits it or not, and whether George Sland admits it or not, the fame and attention maintained by the name "Lanley Hall" became the fertile ground for the album to thrive, just as "The Tonight Show" became the stage for "Don Quixote" to debut, just as YouTube's attention and popularity became the platform for "Pioneer Village Night" to shine, first "Fast and Thrill/Emotion 5" and then "Love Crazy" and a series of promotional events during awards season, the attention this album has received is truly unusual.

Of course, there is no doubt that the "Don Quixote" album is destined to be unaccepted by the mainstream market. Therefore, the sales of the album did not explode, did not explode with an astonishing sales of 100,000 or 200,000 in a single week, nor did it show an amazing curve of a ninety-degree rise, but it still spread among real music lovers in a down-to-earth and gradual manner.

10,000 copies, 20,000 copies, 30,000 copies...... 12 weeks after "Don Quixote" was released, the weekly sales finally exceeded 30,000 copies, and the cumulative sales also successfully exceeded 100,000 copies, and the cumulative sales are currently 112,000 copies, which is a miracle of sales for a folk album that has gone off the rails, and for an independent album without any publicity. Even George and Studio Eleven themselves were not able to foresee such a trend!

As a result, "Don Quixote" has become a beautiful landscape in the music market in 2011. Miracle? This may not be called, at least not as devastating as the album "21", but there is no doubt that this is wonderful, and countless indie music magazines, indie musicians, and indie music lovers are rejoicing, celebrating another breakthrough in indie music, and giving people hope again.

This week, "Don Quixote" made it to the top 10 of the Billboard album chart for the first time since its release, and deservedly became the biggest highlight news.

Not only that, but thanks to the frequent increase in album sales, the singles' results are naturally rising.

First up was "Ophelia", which stayed on the charts for 66 weeks and remained at number 78, and quietly set its own record - staying in the list for the longest time in the history of singles, "Ophelia" temporarily ranked fourth, behind Jason Mayez's "I Am Yours" and LeAnn-Rimes's "Ho-Do-I-Live" , and the "Cleopatra" that is making history.

At present, there is also Adele's "Falling into the Abyss", which has been on the chart for nearly 60 weeks and is still ranked in the top 30, surpassing "Ophelia".

The second is "Cleopatra", 80 weeks, a full 80 weeks, this single not only broke the record of "I Am Yours" for 76 weeks on the chart, but also created a miracle like a bamboo, this week's single ranked 39th, judging from the data, the pace of setting records has not stopped, which can be said to be appalling.

Finally, there is "Firmly Believe", after the third week of October airborne on the charts, the popularity of this single has remained high, and with the box office results of "Love Crazy" continued to rise, rising to third place in the second week of November, once again breaking the record of the highest folk single since the new century.

If "Cleopatra" is a trickle, then "Convinced" is undoubtedly a powder keg explosion, reaching incredible heights in an instant, attracting more and more attention in a volcanic eruption, sprinting, sprinting, and then taking a leap to second place in the first week of December, just behind Rihanna's "e-Found-Love".

This is undoubtedly explosive news! It really makes people feel the strong influence of the album "Don Quixote", and the strong after-energy effect of the movie "Love is Crazy".

One has to start putting a question mark: what is the limit of "Cleopatra"? Is "Convinced" possible to win the championship? Can the "Don Quixote" album go further? More importantly, what position does this independent album occupy in the music scene?

Also in the first week of December, the Grammys announced the nominees for the 54th edition of the awards ceremony.

Kanye-est's fourth studio album continued his previous stellar performance, being recognized with seven Grammy nominations, making him the most powerful rapper of his time, followed by Adele, Foo-Flighters and Bruno Mars with six nominations.

Although he is a Grammy darling, Kanye has been stolen from the limelight this year by Adele and Bruno. These two new generation singers, the former's second album in the studio and the latter's first album in the studio, have been double-affirmed in terms of market and music criticism, and they are definitely the hottest singers in 2011, and they have also been further affirmed by the Grammys.

On the list of Grammys' nominees, Adele and Bruno were both nominated for three comprehensive awards: Album of the Year, Single of the Year, and Production of the Year.

There is no doubt that at this year's awards ceremony, the showdown between Adele and Bruno will attract countless eyeballs, but what is even more incredible is that in addition to these two singers, there is also a third singer to win such an honor - Lan Li Hall, and the latter has gone one step further and won all the nominations for the four major awards in the comprehensive category!

At the Grammy Awards, there are four awards in the comprehensive category, Album of the Year, Single of the Year, Production of the Year, and Newcomer of the Year, which are the heaviest and most high-profile comprehensive awards.

Among them, the newcomer of the year is the top priority of the Grammys every year, because every singer only has one chance to compete in his life, and if he misses it, he will miss it forever. Singers such as Taylor Swift, Miss Gaga, Rihanna, Britney-Spears and others have all failed to win this trophy.

This year, not only is Blue Gift eligible for the Newcomer of the Year award, competing with the likes of The-Band-Perry, Nicki-Minaj, Skrillex, Bon-Iver, and more, but they are also nominated for all awards in the overall category!

In addition, Lan Li also received two nominations for Best Alternative Album and Best Folk Album, for a total of six nominations, tied with Adele, Bruno, and Spitfire, becoming the most watched singer in the nomination stage.

Compared with popular singers such as Adele, Bruno, and Kanye, the sales of the album "Don Quixote" barely exceeded 100,000, and Lan Li is an amateur singer who is not doing his job.

Coupled with "Love Crazy" and "Fighting Cancer", coupled with the preparation of the sequel to "Fast and Thrilling/Emotional", this created the siege of JFK International Airport, and not only the reporters, but also the fans, the enthusiasm was completely ignited.

Grammy's affirmation, this is undoubtedly one of the most important tributes to "Don Quixote", and it is also the year that the folk song has re-entered the mainstream public after almost three decades of silence, and 2011 is destined to be a year that will go down in history in the North American music market: Adele, Bruno Mars, Spitfire, Taylor Swift, Amy Winehouse...... And, of course, Ranley Hall.

Looking back on this year at a historical juncture, it is not difficult to find that this Grammy is the last carnival of the music market, and it is also the last glory of indie rock and indie folk. Lan Li is just the tip of the iceberg.