Love her or hate her, Beyoncé has officially changed the game. On Friday, Dec. 13, Mrs. Carter released a surprise visual album exclusively on iTunes. Within days, the 14-track, 17-video project had been downloaded 828,773 times, breaking the U.S. iTunes record for most albums sold in a week, a feat previously accomplished by country-pop star Taylor Swift, who sold 617,213 albums.
ABC News credited her colossal record sales to her mastermind decision to go exclusively with iTunes: “The fact that the album was available exclusively through iTunes and not via any other digital music service helped push along the sales. Additionally, fans couldn’t buy single songs for the usual 99 cent price; instead they were forced to buy the whole album for $15.99. Going into the holiday season, the sales of “Beyonce” on iTunes should only rise, but Apple’s exclusive deal with the Grammy-winning singer will end soon.”
Apple and Columbia confirmed yesterday that Mrs. Carter has officially crossed that 1 million mark … and all on a digital platform. Remember that physical copies have not yet been released. Reports further state that the millionth sale came around 11:15 a.m. PST on Wednesday, Dec. 18.
At this rate, we expect Beyoncé’s new album will go platinum within weeks. Congrats to King Bey! –ruthie hawkins/@ruubabie
