Beyonce On Track to Earn Fifth Consecutive #1 Album

Update: CNN is reporting that Beyonce sold 828,773 albums in three days.  Official numbers will be reported mid-week.

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After shocking the world Friday morning with the release of her self-titled fifth studio album, Beyonce is a lock for the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 album chart.

Sales for Beyonce have skyrocketed to over 550,000 copies in less than three days.  Exclusively released through the iTunes Store until December 20, Beyonce sold over 430,000 copies of her new album on Friday and another +120,000 copies on Saturday.  Sunday’s numbers have yet to be officially tallied but some analysts are projecting 600,000 copies sold once official numbers are released mid-week.

These numbers are staggering since the album has only been on sale since Friday.  All of Beyonce’s previous album releases were dropped on a Tuesday, which is industry standard and gives an artist six days of tracking sales for an album (till the following Sunday), but the diva is on course for her biggest album debut yet in a record setting three days of sales.

Beyonce’s current highest-sales week was with the release of her sophomore solo album B’Day  in 2006.  The album would become her second #1 on the Billboard 200 chart after selling 541,000 copies.  Following the performance of B’Day, Beyonce’s third album I Am . . . Sasha Fierce sold 482,000 copies in 2008 while her debut album Dangerously In Love sold 317,000 copies in 2003.  Her last release, 2011’s 4, debuted with 310,000 copies sold.

Once sales numbers are officially released, Beyonce will become the 32-year-old singer’s fifth consecutive number one album.  The album is already on track to become the largest album release for a female singer since Taylor Swift’s Red sold 1.2 million copies in its debut week in Nov. 2012.