There's maybe ten woodblocks with the potential for enduring modern appeal. But only one had an initial popularity spike that let it break through and claim enough cultural real estate to become self sufficient.

It's mysterious but familiar enough to be easy to read and has a strong narrative. It has also become iconic. So it's reproduced more often than other 浮世絵 prints, and the public is more aware of it than of other art in the tradition.

The article talks about how it influenced many artists from later generations, especially with impressionists. Impressionism was popular enough that researchers understood this through line pretty well. This image continues to influence artists today. Check out the cover of this Debussy composition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_mer_(Debussy). There aren't such homages on this scale to others like Yoshitoshi or Sharaku.

There were also a lot of prints of this thing, which means many museums can have a print and display it, so it reaches a larger audience that way, too. Visitors to LA, NY, Chicago, London, Brussels, and more have always been able to see a print.

From there, the image of the Great Wave exists in merchandising, which the article also mentions. Uniqlo made a shirt with the image printed all over it.