Last night, Beyonce turned the internet upside down by releasing a self-titled “visual album” without any prior notice. No dollars spent on marketing, no interviews, no TV performances, nothing. Just a simple announcement and an iTunes link consisting of 14 songs and 17 videos. #NewRules indeed.
Despite being released early Friday morning, Beyonce is still on pace to debut #1 on Billboard. Selling 80k copies in the first three hours helped fuel that prediction, I’m sure. But now that the initial shock has subsided, more traditional plans are needed. Like the decision to choose which of the 14 new songs will be released as singles. UPDATE: The Queen ended up selling 430k the first day! Damn.
According to Billboard, two songs will get the official single treatment at first: the Pharrell-produced “Blow” going to Top 40 and the JAY Z-assisted “Drunk In Love” to R&B/Hip Hop. With “XO” — penned by Ryan Tedder and The-Dream — acting as the second Top 40 single, releasing later next year.
