He made his television series debut in the reality singing competition My Show in 2004, which he won and signed with Universal Music China.

In 2006, after the release of his second album, Love Me Again, Zhang's music career was at stake due to changes at the top management of his record company.

[1] Zhang later signed a deal with EE-Media and released an EP, The Most Beautiful Sun, which marked a fresh restart of his career.

In October, he released the album The Day After Tomorrow and won his first "Most Popular Male Singer (Mainland)" award[citation needed].

In 2009, for the album The Day After Tomorrow, Zhang gained 11 nominations in Beijing pop music ceremony[clarification needed].

In April 2010, Zhang attended the Boao Forum for Asia as an invited guest to perform two songs of Michael Jackson: "Billie Jean" and "Beat it"[citation needed].

In August, he was invited to perform the theme song, "Light the Future", at the Opening Ceremony of the Nanjing Youth Olympics 2014.

[citation needed] On 26 April, Zhang set up his personal label, Planet Culture, and cooperated with Linfair Records.

From July to December, Zhang's tour travelled to Beijing, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Chengdu, Xi'an, Wuhan,[4] Hefei, Dalian, and Kunming.

[citation needed] In 2021, he released Deserve Better and began the Future Live: Yao Beidou concert tour.

In 2023, he released album Wainan Street 1982 on January 11; in March, he said in a magazine interview that his hope is to perform at all the stadiums in China;[8] on December 27, he released EP The Seventh Day of Winter and held 3 concerts from December 29-31 at Chengdu Dong'an Lake Sports Park Multifunctional Arena.

In January 2024, he posted on his official Weibo that he will perform at all stadiums across China;[9] in March, he began Future Live: To 1982 concert tour.

[10] Zhang participated in Hunan Television's long-running singing reality competition I Am a Singer, and made it to the finals on both attempts.

Zhang is married to Xie Na, who holds the Guinness World Records as the first person to accumulate 100 million followers on Weibo.