Beyonce's surprise album release tops 600K unit sales, sets iTunes records - Aliyah Christian, 1st period

Beyonce's 5th album was released early Friday morning, exclusively on iTunes and without saying a word of it to the public. It has sold more than 600,000 units in its first 3 days, setting an all time record. Apple said that the album sold 617,213 in its U.S. iTunes Store. It sold 828,773 internationally. According to Lee Anne Callahan-Longo, the general manager of Beyonce's production company said, "You have to be innovative. The Internet has changed the game. You've got to look at how to address the fact that most artists' albums leak before their release plans".
"Look at where your opportunities can lie and that's kind of how we approached it," she continued in an interview today. "We had a multitude of things we were trying to accomplish, some things we were trying to avoid, and this turned out to be the right perfect plan for us."
Beyonce surprised fans with the release of the album, which features 14 songs and 17 videos, and social media website exploded with mentions of the singer and her new music. In three hours, it sold 80,000 units, and the build-up continued over the weekend. "Beyonce" features collaborations with Jay Z, Drake, Frank Ocean and Justin Timberlake, who co-wrote two songs. The album is being sold by iTunes exclusively for a week at $15.99. She said Beyonce came up with the idea to launch a "visual album." "She said to me one day, 'I really want to do a visual album. I want to do all the videos and I want to put them out.' I looked at her and I said, 'Whoa, wow, oh my God,'" she recalled. "We all said to her, 'Wow, you're crazy, but OK, let's think about that.' And we really kind of sat down and figured out how could this actually happen."

I think that Beyonce and her team is simply amazing! She has really learned the business and how to overcome the problems that the internet has caused for music artists. I personally bought her albulm as soon as I saw her post on Instagram. It was just a couple minutes after midnight. I stayed up all night watching the videos and listening to all of the new songs. She is an amazing artist and this particular albulm is such amazing ART. :)

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/index.ssf/2013/12/beyonces_surprise_album_release_sets_us_and_worldwide_itunes_records.html