I was wondering how did English become so popular? How did it spread so wide globally?

Remember at one time they said that the Sun doesn't set on the British empire ,which meant that as the Earth revolved their were parts on Earth which always faced the Sun ,Britishers occupied the whole globe .Along with them they took their language which was used by the people in those countries and since they ruled these countries for a long long time their language became part of their system.
Now English is used across the globe in all businesses and industries .When we start work we too have to speak a language that others speak to be able to connect with them.