Photo: Courtesy Columbia Records.
Beyoncé's Beyoncé continues its soaring trajectory, with little end in sight. Apple announced today that the singer's self-titled album has just shattered iTunes Store records, having sold 828,773 digital downloads in its first three days alone. The 14-track record, along with its accompanying 17 music videos, was released exclusively through iTunes late last week, and people have been losing their minds over it since.
While the album sales are impressive themselves, it's even more amazing how they got that high. As a total surprise to everyone — except, perhaps, for the most devoted Beyoncé fans, who magically prognosticated this very event — it had zero promotional leadup. There has been no lead single, no radio play. Beyoncé didn't even announce the album herself through a tweet or Facebook post. This was purely the result of her potent branding; her fans and the press both independently spread the news of the album's release.
Beyoncé may not be the first surprise album ever, but it's certainly the first by a major pop star to entirely ignore the standard album-release protocol. It certainly paid off. (Apple)