LOS ANGELES: R&B star Beyonce’s latest self-titled album surpassed 1 million copies sold worldwide in six days on Wednesday and set a record for iTunes, said sources at Apple Inc and Columbia Records.
Beyonce, the fifth solo studio album from the singer, which released unexpectedly in the early hours of December 13 without any prior fanfare, contains 14 new songs and 17 videos, and swiftly topped iTunes album charts across the world.
The album also debuted at the top of the weekly Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday, with 617,000 copies sold in the United States by the week ending December 15, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.
The deluxe digital album, exclusively available on iTunes, can only be purchased as a complete set of songs and videos, and retails for $15.99 at the US store. A physical version will be made available for sale in time for the festive holiday period this month.
The surprise release of the album caps a year in which Beyonce, 32, made a carefully choreographed return to music after taking time out to give birth to her first child, daughter Blue Ivy with rapper husband Jay Z. Both Blue Ivy and Jay Z feature as collaborators on the new album, and appear in accompanying music videos.
Releasing an album without any prior fanfare or publicity is rare, especially for one of the top players in the current music industry. But Beyonce’s success does not necessarily mean other artists will be able to copy her stealth release strategy.
Beyonce’s album has outperformed some of this year’s other most anticipated new releases, selling more copies than new albums from Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Britney Spears.
Currently, the year’s top-selling album is Justin Timberlake’s first part of The 20/20 Experience, which was released in March with 968,000 copies sold in its opening week, and has topped 2.3 million sales in the US to date.
Nielsen SoundScan compiles sales in the week ending Sunday, meaning that Beyonce’s new album only showed three days of sales in the Billboard chart.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 20th, 2013.
Like Life & Style on Facebook, follow @ETLifeandStyle on Twitter for the latest in fashion, gossip and entertainment.