Beyonce has shattered the iTunes record for fastest selling album with her fifth release, called “Beyonce.” The album was a surprise release on Friday– not on any schedules. No one knew about it in public. But with no marketing or forewarning, “Beyonce” — the singer’s best album ever, filled with actual songs and singing– just blew through iTunes. They’ve sold at least 618k copies in the US, heading quickly to 700K. The album will debut at number 1 tomorrow on all the different charts.
The genius of the Beyonce album on iTunes is that the individual tracks are not available. You have to buy the whole album. This may break what has been the killing of the album in the last ten years. The single tracks won’t be available until after Christmas. So Sony and Beyonce get the full $15.99 and not $1.29 per track. Rob Stringer and the Sony people may be changing the game here big time, and getting the business back on its feet.