Beyoncé was the first album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 after Beyoncé released it without a traditional advance announcement.
The self-titled fifth studio album arrived digitally on the iTunes Store on December 13, 2013. Beyoncé announced the project through a short video and described it as a visual album because every song was accompanied by a music video. The surprise release broke from the usual campaign model of announcing an album months ahead and releasing singles first.
Beyoncé debuted at number one in the United States with 617,000 copies sold during its first three days. It became her fifth consecutive album to reach the top of the Billboard 200. The project included “Drunk in Love,” “Partition,” and “Pretty Hurts,” among other tracks.
The phrase “surprise album” is often used for the release strategy, but the album’s official title is simply Beyoncé. Later surprise releases, including Lemonade and Renaissance, followed different promotional approaches and should not be substituted as the answer.