Ten years ago today — at midnight on lucky Friday the 13th of December, 2013 — Beyoncé released a surprise, self-titled album, available only on iTunes for $15.99. Beyoncé was a project conceived in secrecy, but nothing about it was small: The album, which had no advance singles or promotion, was released all at once, with arty videos to accompany each of its 14 songs. Fans stayed up much of the night to hear the whole album, thrilled by its unexpected arrival. The appearance of Beyoncé was a cultural event.
Even for an artist as successful as Beyoncé, a surprise album that was only available through a single digital platform, and only available as a full package, was rare in the music industry at that time — a move that felt truly risky — but it paid off instantaneously. After she announced the album's existence on Facebook and Instagram at midnight, Beyoncé immediately went to No. 1 on iTunes in 90 countries.
