Chart News: ‘BEYONCÉ’ has sold approx. 500k in 48 Hours!

Beyonce’s self-titled surprise release, which hit iTunes exclusively on Thursday evening (9 p.m. PT), has now sold over 430,000 units in just over one day, guaranteeing it the top slot on the Billboard 200 once that chart’s top 10 is revealed mid-week.

As reported yesterday, “Beyonce” shifted slightly over 80,000 in the three hours from 9 p.m. PT to midnight on Thursday evening, putting her Friday sales at roughly 350,000. With two more days left in the sales tracking week, the title could sell over 600,000 before the buzzer sounds.

The iTunes exclusive “visual” album, retailing for $ 15.99 contains 14 tracks- not available for a la carte purchases until Dec. 20- and 14 accompanying videos, along with other bonus video content. No set date has been announced for the CD release to physical retailers or of its availability on other digital download sites.

At 430,000, “Beyonce” is already set to become the biggest debuting album by a female artist since Taylor Swift sold an astounding 1.2 million copies of “Red” in the week corresponding to Billboard 200 chart dated Nov 10, 2012. And if predictions in the 600,000 range hold, the set would grant Beyonce the best debut week- and best sales week period- of her career. Her 2006 album “B’day” started with 541,000 in September 2006.

THE BEY UPDATE: The Beyoncé sneak attack on iTunes has become the story of the industry and possibly a game-changing new strategy to sell records. The early release as an iTunes exclusive, with no tracks for sale and no Spotify to bastardize sales, the "visual album" has sold approximately 500k album downloads in its first 48 hours, with no end in sight and will easily debut #1. What was looking like a pretty dull Christmas release season has been hit by a bolt of lightning. The surprise release has been heralded by social media everywhere and covered by every major television news network. She has created her own publicity and the project reached its audience through word of mouth–the most powerful of all sales tools. Stay tuned for continuous updates. Kudos to Team Columbia and Team Beyoncé on what may end up being the most talked about event of 2013. (12/14p)

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US chart preview: #1 Beyoncé, @Beyonce 600,000