Five key stats had all ranked first in the league—a feat without parallel in world history.
Sports Illustrated had gone even further, breaking with tradition to devote an entire special issue to Wang Yi.
In other words, that issue of Sports Illustrated was all about Wang Yi.
Its sales skyrocketed.
Sports Illustrated was normally a weekly, but the special issue about Wang Yi sold out as soon as it hit the shelves.
So they kept printing more copies, again and again.
Even a month later, that week's regular issue couldn't outsell the reprints of Wang Yi's special.
Many fans had already read about the issue elsewhere, but still went out and bought a copy to keep as a collectible.
In the end, that issue of Sports Illustrated sold a total of 73 million copies over the course of a month.
It made Sports Illustrated a fortune.
To put that in perspective, a typical issue of Sports Illustrated sold only a little over three million copies.
That showed just how phenomenal Wang Yi's issue was.
Other media outlets saw this and quickly caught on, putting out their own magazines devoted to Wang Yi.
That year, more than twenty globally renowned media outlets published magazines about him.
Even outlets with no obvious connection to sports, such as entertainment or business publications, released special issues about Wang Yi.
The Wall Street Journal, for example.
Someone asked why a business publication would put out a special issue about a sports star like Wang Yi.
Come on.
An issue like that would boost their business. And wasn't boosting business exactly what business publications were all about?
So publishing a special issue about Wang Yi made perfect sense.
And because the world's twenty biggest media outlets had all put out Wang Yi special issues and made