This article presents 2022 phase-2 “Virtual Digital Human Top 50” (虚拟数字人TOP50排行榜) ranking intended to document practical, real-world adoption of virtual digital humans in China and to keep tracking new cases over time. It defines a virtual digital human as a human-like figure simulated on a computer, and it describes the category as highly visible since the second half of 2021 due to appearances in entertainment programs, gala-style events, and major sports occasions, alongside deployments in sectors such as media and finance.
It classifies virtual digital humans by application scenario into two types. The first is identity-type virtual humans, which are treated as independent personas with recognizable personality traits and are commonly expressed as virtual avatars and virtual idols. The second is service-type (functional) virtual humans, also called virtual employees, which are intended to carry out relatively standardized work in production and service contexts.
The ranking is jointly attributed to 01 Blockchain (01区块链) and Zero One Think Tank (零壹智库), with the publication partners listed as Lujiazui Magazine (《陆家嘴》杂志), Zero One Finance (零壹财经), and ForeChain. Editorial responsibility is attributed to Bai Liang (柏亮) and Yu Baicheng (于百程), and the writing team is credited to Chen Lishan (陈丽姗). It states that this second-period list was released on August 10, 2022 at Metaverse Industry Development Summit 2022 and that the organizers plan ongoing updates and invite additional case submissions via a published phone/WeChat contact.
The Top 50 is split into two ranked sublists: a Virtual Idol Top 30 and a Virtual Employee Top 20. For the Virtual Idol Top 30, the publication says it assesses “influence” using indicators that include fan counts, content and product output, business capability, and the breadth of commercial collaborations. The top ten virtual idols named are:
Luo Tianyi created by Shanghai Henian (上海禾念);
A-SOUL associated with ByteDance and Yuehua Entertainment;
Ling (翎_Ling) associated with Next Culture (次世文化) and Mofa Technology (魔珐科技);
Vince and Vila both associated with Shiyue Xingcheng (世悦星承);
AYAYI associated with Ranmai Technology (燃麦科技);
Yi Shiqi (伊拾七) associated with Yiji Culture (一几文化);
Ha Jiang (哈酱) associated with Budweiser Investment Group and Warner Music Group;
Liu Yexi (柳夜熙) associated with Chuangyi Video (创壹视频); and
RiCH BOOM band associated with iQIYI.
It highlights two newcomers to the idol list: Purple, described as a virtual DJ, and Tianyu (天妤), described as a guofeng-style virtual idol associated with Tianyu Digital Technology (天娱数科).
Within the idol segment, the publication emphasizes upward movement for Vince, stating that it rose 13 places compared with the first period due to stronger performance across popularity, commercial collaborations, and business capability. As concrete examples, it claims a Weibo follower increase of more than 150,000 and new brand collaborations with Dior, Li-Ning, Calvin Klein, and vivo, plus participation in a virtual label initiative linked to 88rising and its PLAYGROUND project, alongside the release of a self-titled single.
For the Virtual Employee Top 20, the publication describes service-type virtual humans as functional avatars used to execute standardized tasks, and it names common deployment areas such as virtual news presenters, TV hosts, financial virtual intelligent advisors, virtual livestream hosts, and virtual actors. It says it evaluates this segment using factors that include the influence of the developing organization, business capability, technology application, and the popularity of the deployment scenario. The top ten virtual employees named are:
Dongdong associated with Alibaba Group;
Guan Xiaofang associated with Kuaishou;
Virtual Hezhui (虚拟鹤追) associated with Virtual Film Industry (虚拟影业);
Bingtang IO associated with Bilibili;
Aijia associated with iFLYTEK;
Xiaoyang and YAOYAO associated with Mango Excellent Media;
Xiaoc (小C) associated with Baidu and CCTV (央视网);
Xiaozheng (小诤) associated with Xinhua News Agency and Tencent; and
Gu Xiaoyu (谷小雨) associated with Zhejiang Satellite TV.
It flags new entrants to the virtual employee list as Virtual Hezhui, Yue Xiaoman (悦小满) described as a TV-station intern associated with Guangdong Network Radio and Television (广东网络广播电视台), Du Xiaoxiao (度晓晓) described as a companion-oriented virtual assistant, and Gu Xiaoyu described as a cultural promotion virtual figure.
A final emphasis in the publication is the change in positioning of Dongdong (冬冬), which it says rose six places versus the previous period to become the top-ranked virtual employee. It describes a transition from a Winter Olympics promotional role to commerce-oriented livestreaming within Taobao Live, with capabilities framed as real-time audience interaction, improvised talk, and demonstration-style performance of ice-and-snow sports skills. The text also contains an inserted promotional notice about a livestream reservation related to Meisenke and smart-vehicle body chips, which reads like an embedded advertisement placed alongside the ranking publication’s main descriptive content.
Phase-1 differs in that it extends beyond rankings into an explicit ecosystem and supply-chain map of the virtual digital human field. In addition to the Top 30 and Top 20, phase-1 introduces a layered industry-chain framing that distinguishes foundational enabling layers (hardware and core software capabilities), platform layers that assemble tools and workflows for production, application layers where deployment happens across industries, and comprehensive vendors that can span multiple layers through scale, infrastructure, and distribution. It then complements that framing with representative-company profiles presented as structured tables, using consistent fields such as founding time, city, main business focus, and representative products or projects, which collectively turns phase-1 into a combined “who is ranked” plus “who enables the ranked outcomes” reference. The net effect is that phase-1 reads as a baseline edition that establishes the conceptual model and provides a compact map of the vendor landscape behind virtual digital humans.