Beyoncé’s surprise self-titled visual album was released in 2013.
The album arrived without a traditional pre-release campaign on December 13, 2013, through the iTunes Store. It was accompanied by a music video for every song, making the project both an audio album and a visual album.
Its unexpected release changed how major pop albums could be marketed. The record debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and became Beyoncé’s fifth consecutive number-one album in the United States.
The album included songs such as “Drunk in Love,” “Partition,” and “Flawless.” It is often confused with Lemonade, another Beyoncé visual album, but Lemonade was released in 2016 and used a different narrative and rollout.