Beyonce’s fifth studio album, Beyoncé, which
was released exclusively on iTunes on Friday
without any promotional marketing, has sold
828,773 copies in three days, Apple announced
Monday.
The unconventional release, featuring 14 songs
and an unprecedented 17 videos, sparked an
impressive 1.2 million tweets about the album in
24 hours after premiering. And now, it has
become iTunes’ fast-selling album.
Domestically, the iTunes Store has already sold
617,213 copies, breaking the store’s first-week
album sales record.
The previous record holders were Justin
Timberlake’s 20/20 Experience, which sold
580,000 worldwide on iTunes (U.S. number
aren’t available) and Taylor
Swift’s Red (465,000, U.S.).
Apple also reports that the album topped iTunes
album charts in 104 countries (out of 119
countries where iTunes is available). For now,
iTunes users can only buy the full album
($15.99) — not individual songs — which helped
the album reach No. 1 across the world. The
album’s songs can be purchased separately
starting Dec. 20.
Despite only being sold on iTunes, the sales total
for Beyoncé is the artist’s biggest sales week
ever.
Beyoncé bypassed traditional distribution
methods, including not making the album
available on streaming services and not
releasing a lead music video on Vevo or
YouTube.
Meanwhile, Columbia Records started
producing physical copies for retail stores on the
day the album was released on iTunes, meaning
it will be in stores in time for the holidays.
Beyoncé managed to keep the album release a
secret (read: no online leaks surfaced), in a year
when music somehow kept repeatedly leaking
before artists’ official release dates. The 32-year-
old and her legion of well-known directors shot
music videos for each song during her world tour
in New York City, Paris, Sydney and Rio de
Janeiro, among other places.
“I didn’t want to release my music the way I’ve
done it. I am bored with that,” Beyoncé said. “I
feel like I am able to speak directly to my fans.
There’s so much that gets between the music,
the artist and the fans. I felt like I didn’t want
anybody to give the message when my record is
coming out. I just want this to come out when
it’s ready and from me to my fans.”
The approach resonated around the globe. On
Facebook, mentions of “Beyoncé” spiked more
than 1,300% in the hours after the album
dropped, a Facebook spokesperson
told Mashable. And the reception on Twitter was
just as furious; Twitter detailed how buzz about
the album spread in an animated map, released
Monday.
