The Greatest Showman
Chapter 148

Breaking news: Ophelia is officially released on iTunes and Spotify!

Although it lacked any formal promotion, netizens quickly discovered this exciting news thanks to its recent popularity on YouTube. One user was the first to post about it on the Yahoo community, also mentioning information about Cleopatra (Arranged Version) in the post. They exclaimed, “That damned guy Renly Hall finally agreed to record it officially. Now we can finally listen to the full studio version. Jesus Christ, I’ve been listening to the original version of this song for five whole months!”

After the post was published, it quickly attracted a flood of attention and discussion. Speculation about intentional hype once again started surfacing sporadically. In the 37th comment of the thread, a user named “Brando Fanatic” posted:

“No matter what Renly Hall’s family background is, the objective fact is that he didn’t use any resources for promotion. The Ophelia video only had a brief buzz on YouTube, with no follow-up coverage at all; Cleopatra has been online for over half a year now with absolutely zero promotional backing—its spread relied solely on word of mouth.

Regardless of whether there’s powerful backing behind Renly Hall, the fact remains that aside from two professional reviews from The Fader and Billboard, everything has been driven purely by online enthusiasm and interest. No tabloid gossip, no scandal marketing, no radio, no TV promotions.

However things came to this point, the bottom line is that both Cleopatra and Ophelia are genuinely good music. That’s what really matters, isn’t it?”

Brando Fanatic’s post quickly sparked even more discussion. Some agreed, others disagreed, and many just watched the drama unfold—but overall, the supporters had the upper hand. Combined with previous “conclusions” drawn by netizens, this viewpoint gradually became mainstream. The moderate controversy eventually simmered down—not too hot, not too cold—after all, Renly was still just a newcomer and not yet worthy of heavy debate.

However, the small stir did help the post regain traction, and more and more people began to discover that Ophelia had been officially released.

Within just six hours of the single being uploaded, Ophelia successfully broke into the Top 200 of the iTunes real-time download chart!

On the surface, breaking into the Top 200 doesn’t sound too impressive—but considering there were no announcements, no teasers, no alerts, and absolutely zero promotion, and the track managed this purely through the efforts of “Sherlock Holmes”-like fans, this achievement was truly remarkable. And this was only the beginning.

As the news continued to spread, downloads of Ophelia surged at a pace visible to the naked eye. By 3 PM, it had already climbed into the Top 100, just nine hours after being uploaded. And it was still rocketing upward, making people wonder, “Since when did folk music become so popular?”

By 9 PM, Ophelia had reached #14 on the iTunes real-time download chart, with its upward trend finally beginning to slow. This performance curve was nothing short of astonishing—it truly demonstrated the incredible power of the internet age. To achieve such success without spending a dime on promotion was downright shocking.

At the same time, Cleopatra (Arranged Version) also attracted widespread attention. Compared to the viral success of Ophelia, this track benefited more from word-of-mouth. After all, it had spent two months lingering near the bottom of Billboard’s singles chart. Though its downloads lacked the explosive spike, it still showed solid staying power.

By 9 PM, Cleopatra (Arranged Version) had only reached #64 on iTunes’ real-time download chart, but by midnight, it had risen to #31. In contrast, Ophelia remained at #14 during the same three-hour window.

Of course, the most noteworthy is the original version of Cleopatra, which was uploaded back in March this year. The day after the Emmy Awards, the song reached as high as #3 on the iTunes real-time download chart! The only tracks ahead of it were Eminem and Rihanna’s Love the Way You Lie and Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream.

This was undoubtedly a major breakthrough—an unimaginable one. Although Cleopatra only held the #3 spot for 24 hours before slipping down the charts the next day, it was still a cause for celebration. Now, a week later, with the release of two brand-new singles drawing attention, Cleopatra has had some of its downloads siphoned off by the arranged version. Yet it still shows an upward trend, astonishingly ranking #49 on the iTunes real-time download chart.

This success is so extraordinary that it defies description. Although this reflects only a 24-hour performance and the future trajectory remains uncertain, the explosive popularity within that single day is comparable even to established mainstream pop stars. No one can deny that these two singles have made a huge splash—truly a miracle in the world of independent music.

In recent years, many indie musicians have released their songs through newer platforms like Songcast and similar services, but most results have been quite modest. In this age of information overload, breaking through without significant promotion is extremely difficult. Most indie singles can’t even break into the Top 200 of the iTunes real-time chart, with download numbers stuck in the double digits. The struggles of indie musicians are clear to see.

But now, Ophelia and Cleopatra have, through a twist of fate, achieved such remarkable results. This is nothing short of a shot in the arm for the independent music scene!

And the story doesn’t end there.

Streaming numbers on iTunes and Spotify are just one of many indicators of a song’s popularity or success. In the music business, charts like the U.S. Billboard and the UK Singles Chart are the true barometers of commercial success.

The second-week Billboard chart for September was released on Monday, September 6 (U.S. time). Since Ophelia was only released that same day, its results wouldn’t be reflected until the following week. But the single that had already been on the chart for two months—Cleopatra—became the week’s most talked-about track.

Just the previous week, Cleopatra had been sitting at #89, still hovering near the bottom. But this week, it skyrocketed—all the way to #48. Not only was it the single with the biggest jump in position for the week, it also successfully broke into the coveted Top 50!

And this wasn’t iTunes’ real-time chart, nor was it a ranking of Spotify streams or YouTube views—this was the Billboard Hot 100, based on a comprehensive commercial index. Billboard is notoriously competitive, with hundreds if not thousands of songs vying for space. For any single to break into the Top 50 is a cause for celebration, let alone a folk song.

In the first decade of the 21st century, folk songs that made it into Billboard’s Top 50 were extremely rare. Even Jason Mraz, arguably the most successful folk-pop artist of that era, only had three singles make it into the Billboard Hot 100. His record-breaking “I’m Yours”, famous for its 76-week longevity on the chart, still only peaked at #6—and never climbed any higher.

That remains the most commercially successful folk song of the past decade.

Now, Cleopatra has once again broken into Billboard’s Top 50! And it did so by shattering all limitations—no music video, no physical album, no promotional campaign, no radio play, and not even a record label or distributor behind it. This miracle was truly astonishing.

Even though it was just #48, the reaction was explosive.

From being completely unknown to becoming a fan favourite, from obscurity to the centre of conversation, Cleopatra carved out a path that seems almost impossible to replicate. With a perfect storm of timing, talent, and opportunity, it broke through against all odds. Suddenly, the folk music trend seemed to show signs of revival—though how long it will last, and how far it can go, remains to be seen.

Renly Hall, the newcomer actor who had just made headlines at the Emmy Awards, now suddenly stunned the world again, this time as a folk singer climbing the Billboard charts. Interest in him exploded overnight. Reporters scrambled to uncover more about him, only to be stunned by the result—

There was nothing to find.

The reporters’ findings were not much different from those of the online sleuths. Their only advantage was that they managed to obtain some basic information about Renly through the Actor’s Union—his height, weight, age, and so on. Most importantly, they were able to confirm one key detail: Renly is from London. At last, some semblance of a profile for this newcomer began to take shape. But beyond that—nothing.

In the internet age, everyone’s personal information is practically exposed under broad daylight, almost impossible to conceal. This applies even to ordinary people—the power of online, mass crowd-sourced investigations is enough to make anyone shudder. For public figures constantly in the media spotlight, hiding anything is even harder.

So, for someone like Renly, to suddenly appear out of nowhere and remain a complete mystery, with no accessible records, no history, was simply unbelievable.

The reporters felt insulted—it was one thing for internet users to come up empty-handed, but for professional journalists, with industry connections and insider channels, to also find nothing—that was a total embarrassment. As a result, the flames of gossip began to burn more fiercely than ever. Quietly and without warning, Renly became a top target for many.

Then came Thursday, September 9.

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