Beyoncé’s strategy for her fifth studio album worked big time. BEYONCÉ sold a record-breaking 828,773 copies in its first weekend on sale.
Beyoncé’s self-titled album was released at 12 a.m. on Friday, December 13 without any advanced publicity whatsoever and went on to nab the title of fastest-selling release ever on iTunes. The album’s exclusivity on iTunes and the inability to purchase individual songs helped the singer set this new record for Apple’s music service.
Of those 820k copies, BEYONCÉ sold 617k in the United States. It is the best-selling album since Taylor Swift’s Red which sold 1.2 million copies in its first week on sale in November 2012.
Related: Read one of our readers’ detailed review of the album.
For Beyoncé, her latest album is set to become the best-selling of her career’s first week sales. Her previous record holder was the 2006 album B’day with 541,000 copies in its first seven days. Her second most recent album 4 sold 310,000 copies in its first week.
The surprise release strategy worked splendidly and may set a precedent for future album releases from big name artists who are looking to shock fans and spike sales. The question is: Could it work for others, who seem to struggle so hard with keeping projects a secret?
On Sunday we told you that Beyoncé had sold 80,000 copies of the album in its first three hours on sale (in the middle of the night).
Songs from BEYONCÉ will be available for individual purchase beginning Friday, December 20.
Thanks to HuffPo for the stats.
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