Gonna offer up that going from "reach level 2 of promotion" (ie release a first single) to "top the monthly sales chart" (ie sell over a million copies) as requirements for two sequential story beats is way too tall of an order for players since million sellers don't happen within your first year of play unless you REALLY speedrun it and play optimally (Even then it would take a dozen singles or several months and TV drama upgrades to get a million seller)
(Also I get wanting to keep the new features and systems fresh but I'd like to know what they are if I'm supposed to play the game this long to get to the next story part. I was interested in what the new features are but the chart-topper requirement was enough to put me off trying to experience it.)