68: Chapter 68 Album Hot Selling

August 10th, New York.

Manhattan, Chelsea district, Spotify US headquarters.

Chen Mo stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows. Outside was the Manhattan skyline, and the Hudson River shimmered in the distance.

This office building had been rented by Spotify since 2010. It was bright and airy, with colorful sofas scattered throughout the open space, and the glass-walled conference rooms were filled with people.

Jessica stood beside him, saying excitedly, "There are over twenty music critics here today, and about thirty fans, all selected by Spotify from their global user base."

Chen Mo adjusted the neckline of his black T-shirt. He wasn't here to perform today; he was here to let people listen to his music.

The conference room quieted down.

Spotify's Global Head of Music was named Daniel. He was in his forties, wore a navy blue shirt, was bald, and spoke with a Swedish accent.

"《Epiphany》, ten songs, from beginning to end, we won't interrupt. After listening, music critics can post reviews on our platform, and fans are free to ask questions. Chen Mo will be sitting right here, listening with everyone."

The lights dimmed.

The prelude to the first song, 《Closer》, poured out from the speakers.

Chen Mo sat in the first row by the aisle. He closed his eyes, his fingers moving slightly on his knees.

The fan sitting next to him was a black girl wearing glasses named Ella, who had flown in from Atlanta. She covered her mouth with both hands throughout the whole session, her eyes turning red from the very first song.

Fifty-two minutes later, the final note faded away.

The conference room was silent for a few seconds, then applause rolled from the first row to the back.

After listening to an album like this, one had to release their emotions through applause.

The first to stand up was a music critic from Rolling Stone, an old white man named Greg, who had been writing music reviews for over twenty years.

"Chen Mo, I've listened to 《7 Years》 many times, but placed within the whole album, sandwiched between 《Closer》 and 《Perfect》, it has become heavier—heavier in the order of life."

The second person to speak was a music critic from Pitchfork, a Latina woman in her thirties named Mariana.

"By placing 《Perfect》 as the last track, you made everyone listen from the first to the ninth song, passing through neon lights, street lamps, disco balls, candles, and lighters, finally walking into a spotlight, and then you sang 'I found you.' That 'you' is the listener themselves."

In the Q&A session for fans, Ella was the first to raise her hand. She stood up, her voice trembling slightly.

"I dropped out of medical school last year. Everyone in my family said I was crazy, and I felt crazy myself. Just now, hearing that line in 《7 Years》, 'Once I was seven years old,' I suddenly thought, the twelve-year-old me wanted to be a doctor, but the twenty-year-old me didn't want to anymore."

"How will my thirty-year-old self look at my twenty-year-old self? Chen Mo, when you look back at thirty, have you ever regretted anything?"

Chen Mo looked at her and said gently, "No regrets. Not because I made the right choice, but because once a choice is made, you cannot regret it."

Ella's eyes turned red, but she didn't cry. She nodded firmly and sat down.

After the listening session ended, Daniel stopped Chen Mo in the hallway.

"All twenty-three music critics who attended today posted reviews, and all of them are positive. Pitchfork gave it an 8.9, and Rolling Stone gave it four and a half stars."

Chen Mo nodded.

That night, the Pitchfork review was shared on Twitter.

The headline was: "《Epiphany》: Chen Mo Uses Ten Kinds of Light to Shine into the Same Life."

The last paragraph of the article read: "《Epiphany》 is not an album about epiphany; it is an album about 'waiting for an epiphany.'"

"Chen Mo wrote ten songs, each one depicting a person waiting for light in the darkness."

"Did he wait for it? The last song is called 《Perfect》, and he sings 'I found you.' That 'you' is himself."

The Rolling Stone headline was: "From B-flat to C: Chen Mo's Tonal Escape and Destination."

A passage in the article was repeatedly quoted: "All of Chen Mo's previous hit singles were hidden in B-flat Major, such as 《Stressed Out》, 《Believer》, and 《See You Again》—all B-flat."

"B-flat is his most comfortable key; it's dark enough, deep enough, and good enough to hide things."

"《Epiphany》 is very different. 《Closer》 is in C Major, 《7 Years》 is in B-flat minor, and 《Perfect》 is in A-flat Major."

"He went through all the keys and then stopped at A-flat, one tone lower than B-flat, a bit darker than C Major, and a bit brighter than B-flat minor. That is his destination."

Fans also started posting their impressions of the listening session, but because they had signed non-disclosure agreements, they couldn't reveal anything about the lyrics, only recommending it blindly.

The entire internet was clamoring to listen, but they could only wait, counting down the days on their fingers.

On August 15th, 《Epiphany》 was released globally.

Messages for Chen Mo didn't stop, constantly pinging.

The first was from Scott, just a number: "5000!"

The second was from Jessica, a screenshot of Spotify's global first-day streaming numbers—53.2 million.

The third was from Evan, with only one line of text: "Fifty million! It was worth it for a lifetime!"

Fifty million wasn't the end; the numbers were still climbing.

The next morning, Spotify's official Twitter account posted: "《Epiphany》 first-day global streams hit 52 million, breaking the Spotify all-time record for single-day album streams. The previous record was 96 million? No, that was for a single."

According to Spotify's revenue sharing rules, free users generate about $0.0003 per stream, and paid users about $0.006, averaging out to about $0.004 per stream.

(The data was told to me by Keke.)

With fifty million streams, Spotify alone contributed about $200,000 in revenue on the first day—

And that was just streaming; CDs and digital albums were the big earners.

Following the mainstream pricing of this era, a CD was $12 and a digital album was $10.

The first-week sales data was compiled in the early hours of the eighth day.

Scott called, his voice filled with irrepressible excitement.

"1.3 million copies, no padding at all. 890,000 CDs, 410,000 digital albums. Debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200." He paused for a moment and asked, "Do you know what this number means?"

Chen Mo said he knew.

Taylor's 《1989》 sold 1.287 million copies in its first week, making it the highest first-week sales album in the US since 2002, second only to Eminem's 《The Eminem Show》.

Albums that broke one million in their first week in history could be counted on one hand. In all of 2015, apart from Chen Mo, no one else had achieved this.

Scott's voice was full of pride as he said, "You've surpassed the world's pop queen! And the fans in the China region haven't even exerted their full strength yet!"

At this time, awareness of copyright was still relatively poor, and people were more willing to listen to pirated music.

Universal Music headquarters sent an email, written by Katherine, with only one paragraph in the body:

"Chen Mo, 《Epiphany》 is Universal Music's highest first-week global sales album this year. The CEO asked me to pass on a message to you: You made the words 'Chinese musician' shine at the #1 position on the Billboard 200 for a whole week—not just a song, but an entire album!"

Marcus added a line at the end: "First-week streaming plus physical sales, total revenue converted to over $15 million. As for your royalty percentage, Scott negotiated the best tier at the time."

The reaction from media and netizens across the internet completely exploded within forty-eight hours of the album's release.

On Twitter trends, "Epiphany" shot to #1 globally, "Chen Mo 1.3 million" reached #2, and "Taylor's sun" climbed to #3.

Someone posted a screenshot of the Billboard 200 chart—《Epiphany》 was #1, followed by the golden number "1,300,000."

The caption read: "The highest first-week sales album of 2015 is not an American singer, but a Chinese person—Chen Mo."

The top comment in the section read: "From a Billboard triple-crown single to a 1.3 million first-week album, it took him less than two years. This isn't a comeback; this is a crushing blow."

The headline for the music section of The New York Times was: "《Epiphany》: How One Album Made 2015 the Year of Chen Mo."

A passage in the article was repeatedly quoted: "《1989》 was Taylor's manifesto for transitioning from country to pop, 《Purpose》 was Bieber's declaration of return, and 《To Pimp A Butterfly》 was Lamar's social manifesto."

"《Epiphany》 is Chen Mo's life manifesto. He didn't transition, he didn't return, he didn't address social issues; he simply packed ten songs, ten colors, and ten moments of life into one album, and then told everyone—"

"This is how I see the world, will you buy it? 1.3 million people did."

The BBC headline was: "From Changsha to Billboard: Chen Mo's Epiphany Conquers the World," and then "Changsha Travel Guide" was reposted tens of millions of times on overseas websites.

Changsha's overseas search volume once surpassed Beijing's.

Domestically, the Weibo trending topic "Chen Mo Epiphany 1.3 million first week" shot to #1 on the day of the album's release.

"Chen Mo breaks Taylor's first-week record" reached #2, and "Chen Mo Billboard 200 Champion" climbed to #3.

Someone posted a screenshot of Taylor's Instagram post, "The sun was drawn a bit bigger," to Weibo, with a line of text:

"She lost the #1 single, she said 'won.' He broke her first-week record, she said the sun was drawn bigger. This is the grace between top-tier celebrities."

Someone replied below: "You're blind, this is clearly love!"