137 The Miracle Created by Three Songs

In the world of his previous life, there were many Chinese songs adapted into foreign covers, but if one were to ask which had the widest reach, there would be only one answer: "Kiss Goodbye."

Li Daniu chose this song precisely for that reason. Since the arrangement and instrumentation were already finalized, he only needed to adapt the lyrics into English. Returning to the recording studio, he finished the track in just half an hour and posted it to his EyeBook page.

Although the version by Michael Learns to Rock was widely known in his past life, the band's limited fame prevented the song from truly exploding globally. Li Daniu's current popularity, however, could only be described as peaking; his follower count had already reached 63.7 million. At the current rate of growth, he was mere days away from becoming the number one ranked author on the EyeBook follower leaderboard. Li Daniu often wondered if EyeBook would reclassify him as a celebrity once he reached that milestone.

With over 60 million followers, including more than 40 million international users, this massive base allowed the English version of "Kiss Goodbye" to quickly become a hit in the United States and other English-speaking countries. The Billboard charts, the most authoritative source for music rankings, promptly added the song. While it did not debut at number one like Jule's "Rolling in the Deep," it climbed rapidly from the hundredth spot toward the top. By this time, Jorden's "Anna Baby" had already surged to second place and was on the verge of taking the crown.

When people noticed this peculiar situation, American netizens grew excited. Pranks were their specialty, and they were always eager to court chaos. As Li Daniu’s song hit number three on the Billboard Hot 100, the internet began its campaign of mischief.

The Billboard charts in this world operated on a simple metric: daily online stream counts, with the totals clearly displayed next to each rank. While this system was occasionally susceptible to manipulation, it was generally fair; good songs are replayed. If a song wasn't actually good, it would be weeded out by the listeners' ears regardless of how much money was spent to boost it temporarily.

However, today’s chart was bizarre. Ten minutes ago, "Rolling in the Deep" was first, "Anna Baby" second, and "Kiss Goodbye" third. Ten minutes later, "Kiss Goodbye" moved to first, pushing the others down. Another ten minutes later, "Anna Baby" took the lead, with "Kiss Goodbye" falling to second. The cycle repeated every ten minutes, with the three songs rotating through the top spots.

Netizens found it hilarious because the three artists were all interconnected: Jule and Jorden were products of "The Voice USA," both signed to TC Entertainment, and Li Daniu was the owner of the company. Even more miraculously, the songwriting and production for all three tracks were credited to the same person: Li Daniu. Never in the history of the Billboard charts had one company held the top three spots with three different artists, nor had a single songwriter dominated the top three simultaneously. Most incredible of all was that someone who treated music as a side project was achieving such results.

Although this was clearly a orchestrated prank by netizens, the quality of the songs was undeniable. Unlike typical bot-driven streaming, fans were actually listening to the tracks, rotating through them every ten minutes. The company behind Billboard noticed the anomaly but found no way to intervene. There were no prohibited programs involved; their backend showed that every click came from a legitimate personal IP address, not a proxy.

"So... what do we do?" the Billboard technicians looked at each other in confusion. They couldn't just lock the songs—that would raise questions about fairness. Yet, they couldn't let this farce continue indefinitely. At this rate, the three songs would lock in the top three spots for the weekly and monthly charts before the day was even over.

After a brief meeting, Billboard issued an announcement: "Due to technical issues, daily streaming statistics are currently inaccurate. Consequently, the daily chart rankings will be determined by the previous day's streaming data. We apologize to all our listeners for this inconvenience."

Following this, the top two spots were fixed to Jule and Jorden's songs, while Li Daniu's track—which hadn't even been released the day before—was relegated to third. Billboard justified this by stating that new releases could enter based on current daily streams, while established songs would rely on the previous day's data.

The immediate reaction from American netizens was outrage. They felt that a historic event they had created was being stifled by arbitrary rule changes. The Billboard customer service lines were jammed for an hour, but the company stood firm. Eventually, the netizens gave up; after all, they couldn't spend their entire lives just listening to these three songs.

While the farce ended, its influence spread. Countless media outlets reported on the event, complete with screenshots. This coverage piqued the curiosity of those who hadn't yet heard the songs, leading to a massive wave of searches, clicks, and downloads, turning TC Entertainment into a money-printing machine. The popularity of Li Daniu, Jule, and Jorden skyrocketed, and TC Entertainment showcased its immense power to the world: two top-tier singers and a songwriter who defied logic.

In Hollywood, people were already shouting "The wolf is coming!" and now the music industry echoed the sentiment. The strength displayed by TC Entertainment's music division was simply too overwhelming—all because of one man: Li Daniu, the writer who never seemed to focus on his writing, and the monarch who spent his days abroad.

Li Daniu had made a fortune from these songs, but he wouldn't hold onto the money for long. The monthly sales figures for "Harry Potter" were in, and it was time to fulfill his promise to the fans.

"Castro, how many people won the prize?"

"Your Majesty, I am still counting. But do not worry; the estimate of 3,000, which was the most popular guess, was not the closest to the actual monthly sales."