Beyoncé’s surprise album has sold more than 430,000 copies one day after it was released on iTunes.
Beyoncé, the self-titled “visual” album from Beyoncé Knowles, has sold enough copies to win it the number one place on the Billboard 200, the American album charts.
Knowles released her album without prior announcement on Friday morning on iTunes. More than 80,000 copies were sold within three hours of the release and sales had reached approximately 350,000.
With the sales tracking week set to finish later on Sunday, Billboard predicts Beyoncé could sell more than 600,000, guaranteeing it a number one slot in the chart.
Current sales figures put Beyoncé on track to become the highest-selling album in its first week by a female artist since Red by Taylor Swift, which shifted 1.2 million copies in November 2012. If the 600,000 plus predictions come true, Beyoncé will set a new record for Knowles as the best sales week of her career. Currently Knowles’s 2006 album, B’day, is her most successful debuting record after selling 541,000 copies in its first week.
The arrival of Knowles’ 14-song, 17-video record has been anticipated by her fans for the past year. The singer’s last album came out in 2011 and she has released teaser tracks this year online and in adverts. However, Beyoncé had been a work in progress since 2012.
Fans will be able to buy the individual tracks and videos on December 20. As yet, there is still no indication of when a physical album will be released.
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