6 Things Beyoncé Just Proved With Her New Album

If you had told us a week ago that Beyoncé was going to drop an album out of nowhere on Friday the 13th, we would've laughed. And we wouldn't have been alone. Dropping a mixtape, much less an album, without any warning is a surefire way to fail. You need promotion for an album to be successful. You need to do interviews. You need radio play and a hit single and at least one or two other songs on the album that people are familiar with and…

By now, we realize how wrong we would have been about everything we just said. Because even without promotion, a hit single and a slew of radio and TV interviews, Beyoncé's self-titled fifth album was a hit. It set a new iTunes record by selling more than 828,000 copies worldwide in the first three days that it was available for purchase. And by releasing the album, Beyoncé has changed the game. Here, 7 things Beyoncé proved with her new album.

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