But this is mainly because the singer concentrates more in his home state where he is in a league of his own.

?All the songs in the film are catchy, but the one by Zubeen is clearly its USP. It is a huge hit. Even in the theatres here his fans went berserk when the song was played and this is rare. Ya Ali has topped the charts for the past three weeks,? said Manoj Saini of Maruti Music.

Big and small music outlets across the state are definitely singing the song all the way to the bank with more than 35,000 cassettes and 3,000 CDs of the Gangster track already off the shelves.

Traders, however, feel that the success could have been sweeter, but for piracy. ?Had it not been for piracy, we would have sold over a lakh audio units. The song has not only helped us smile, but also established Garg in Bollywood,? added Lahoty.

Suvojit Roy, the regional marketing manager of Saregama India Limited, could not agree more. At the same time, he hoped that this ?phenomenal hit? would help boost the sales of Garg?s maiden score as a music director in the Bollywood movie Strings. The film?s track is slated to be released soon.

Even Zubeen has been bowled over by the response to Ya Ali. Though he could not be contacted, he had recently said in a TV interview that he was confident about the song doing well, but not in the manner it has across the country.

Music director Pritam had revealed in the same interview that Zubeen was so bowled over by the tune of Ya Ali that he had wanted to sing the song himself.

Sales figures have proved that the Jorhat singer?s confidence was not misplaced.