Jacky Cheung certainly felt the love when he celebrated his 60th birthday last Saturday (Jul 10).

Not only did his record label Universal Music throw him a surprise birthday party on July 9, the Heavenly King also received an outpouring of birthday wishes from his celeb pals and fans.

Dozens of stars including Eason Chan, Stefanie Sun, Alan Tam, and Kelly Chen recorded birthday greetings to Jacky.

In the clips, which are posted on Universal’s Hongkong website, they shared their tributes, as well as their favourite songs from the singer.

In China, fans marked the occasion by taking out ads in cities like Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Yunnan.

According to reports, Jacky’s Shanghai fan club screened birthday greetings on repeat from 7am to 10pm on July 10 in shopping centres like Super Brand Mall and Cloud Nine Shopping Mall in Zhongshan Park.

Netizens estimate the stunt cost at least 5mil yuan (S$1.05mil).

The media also took the opportunity to look back on Jacky’s achievements in his 37-year music career.

Dubbed the “God of Songs”, Jacky has set many records throughout his illustrious career, however, these five are unlikely to be surpassed.

Did you know that in 1995, Jacky released four albums including Possession and Sensitive World, and they sold more than 5 million copies worldwide? That achievement made him the second biggest-selling artiste in the world for that year, behind only the King of Pop Michael Jackson.

He was also named the best-selling Chinese singer at the World Music Awards for two consecutive years in 1995 and 1996.

In addition to setting the record for the most performances in a single tour at his 1/2 Century World Tour, Jacky also set the Guinness World record for having the largest number of spectators for a live act in 12 months, when he performed to a whopping 2,048,553 fans.

The record-setting world tour ran from December 30, 2010, to December 29, 2011, with 105 live concerts in 61 cities across China, Singapore, Australia, and the US.

No one can resist the lure of the God of Songs, not even criminals. In 2018, Jacky earned the nickname of Enemy of Fugitives in China after more than 80 fugitives, including wanted criminals and scalpers, were nabbed at his concerts in a year.

Apparently, the criminals were such huge fans of the singer that they came out of hiding to watch his shows. The arrests were made possible by facial recognition technology developed by law enforcement authorities, which is able to pick out faces even in crowds of tens of thousands.

In 1997, Cantonese Broadway-style musical Snow.Wolf.Lake, which Jacky directed, composed and starred in, received critical success in Hongkong.

The musical, which also starred Sandy Lam and Kit Chan, played to sell-out crowds daily and achieved 42 consecutive full-house performances at the Hong Kong Coliseum, a record which remains today.

A Mandarin version of the musical was created in 2004 and ran for 103 performances in Beijing.

Photo: CRI website

In 1998, when Jacky was 37, he gained recognition for his contributions to the music industry when was named one of the Top 10 Outstanding Young Persons in Hongkong by the Junior Chamber International, a worldwide federation of young professionals and entrepreneurs.

The following year, he topped that achievement when he was named one of 10 Outstanding Young Persons of the World, becoming the first Hongkong male singer to win this honour.