The lineup of "Singer 2026" has undergone major changes in the breakout competition. Four singers, including Zhang Bichen and Yang Kun, have confirmed their absence and resurrected for the competition.

Jiuzhi.com, July 15, 2026, the complete list of entries in the "Singer 2026" breakout competition has been officially finalized. Compared with the luxurious lineup expected by the audience, this competition has experienced a large-scale absence. Zhang Bichen, Yang Kun, Hou Minghao, Yu Chengqing, the four artists who had previously entered the breakout candidate list, all confirmed that they could not participate in this live competition.

According to the established competition system of the program, the breakout competition gathers singers eliminated in the early stages of the season and adopts a cruel competition system of 7 in 4. Only the top four players can advance to the sprint stage of the singer and compete with the four direct starters. The original lineup of seven returning players was reduced to six due to many absences, completely rewriting the competition pattern of the event.

A number of artists have issued official statements, uniformly using "handling conflicts" as the reason for absence. Singer Zhang Bichen personally issued a message expressing regret, with gentle and appropriate words, and also specially sent blessings to the singers participating on the same stage; Yang Kun simultaneously announced his absence, saying that he was grateful to the program team for the invitation and looked forward to meeting again on the stage in the future; actor and singer Hou Minghao's studio stated that the filming of the new drama "Thinking of Lovesickness" and the offline concert schedule were completely out of coordination; although veteran singer Yu Chengqing did not post a message separately, multiple sources confirmed that he would not return to this breakout stage.

In response to the absence of many singers, Hunan Satellite TV's "Singer" official account forwarded the artist's statement responses one by one, keeping the wording decent, affirming the stage works left by each singer this season, and expressing the expectation of "waiting for a reunion on the stage in the future." There were no conflicts and differences.

After the news was exposed, it quickly ignited discussions across the Internet, and netizens 'views were polarized. Some viewers felt sorry and believed that with the lack of a few powerful singers, the enjoyment of the stage of the breakout competition was greatly reduced; many netizens also rationally analyzed the underlying reasons behind it. The breakout competition is a live broadcast format of full-open wheat, with no sound correction and buffering. The risk of stage competition is extremely high. In the end, there are only four promotion places, and the probability of accompanying the competition is high. Nowadays, artists are touring offline and filming resources for film and television dramas are saturated. Many singers are unwilling to disrupt their established work plans throughout the year for a live broadcast with a slim chance of winning and a low fault tolerance rate.
In addition, the popularity of this season's program has dropped somewhat compared with the launch stage, and it has also become a key point of heated discussion among netizens. Some industry viewers bluntly said that nowadays artists have more diverse career choices and no longer rely solely on variety shows to maintain exposure. When program revenue conflicts with their own work plans, giving priority to variety shows has become the norm in the industry.

At present, among the seven singers Wei Ruxuan, Vannida, Zhang Yuan, Liu Xijun, Zhou Xingzhe, Eliot and Snagy, except for the absent four, the remaining six contestants will go all out to sprint for the only four promotion seats. July 17 The breakout live broadcast will also usher in a new highlight.