Target Says It Won’t Sell Beyonce’s Self-Titled Album

    Beyonce’s self-titled visual album has shattered an iTunes record for first week sales and it is set to be the singer’s most successful album to date. Still, Target says it will not carry the project. 

    “At Target we focus on offering our guests a wide assortment of physical CDs, and when a new album is available digitally before it is available physically, it impacts demand and sales projections,” Target spokesperson Erica Julkowski says in an interview with Billboard. “While there are many aspects that contribute to our approach and we have appreciated partnering with Beyonce in the past, we are primarily focused on offering CDs that will be available in a physical format at the same time as all other formats. At this time, Target will not be carrying Beyonce’s new self-titled album Beyonce.”

    Beyonce was released as an iTunes exclusive Friday (December 13) with no pre-release promotion for the project. Since then, the album has only been available in its entirety and it has only been available on iTunes. Songs are set to be available for individual purchase December 20, with physical copies available in stores likely on the same date, according to billlboard.com. 

    Target and Beyonce partnered on exclusive editions of her past albums. For instance, in 2011, Beyonce’s 4 had an exclusive version for Target with six bonus cuts. 

    While Target is not scheduled to carry the project, Walmart is slated to carry a non-explicit version of Beyonce.

    “[Walmart is] happy to be able to carry her album and support all physical music,” Walmart spokesperson Sarah McKinney says to billboard.com. 

    In less than a week, Beyonce’s self-titled effort has sold more than 800,000 units

    RELATED: Beyonce’s Album Sells 800,000 Copies & Breaks iTunes Record

    95 thoughts on “Target Says It Won’t Sell Beyonce’s Self-Titled Album

    1. Brilliant business move Target, cut off your nose to spite your face, go against the digital revolution and embrace a business model that died 10 years ago.

    2. *Correction, implying they are embracing the business model of selling physical CD’s would imply they are participating in the business of selling Beyonce’s physical CD’s. There idea of business strategy is no business at all lol.

    3. Target stays winning by not doing business with Gay Z’s wife. They carried Wale’s deluxe edition. Target got smarter.

      1. Once again, Beyonce bought most of the copies herself to make it seem like a success. Wale allowed his fans to buy almost all the albums.

      2. And that’s a lie, dentalbitch. Beyonce’s fans bought the album, not Beyonce. She has a huge fanbase who’ll buy anything from her. Also, she doesn’t need Target at all, especially when Walmart and other stores are selling her CDs.

      3. How is Target winning by not selling Beyonce’s CDs? That’s a lot of money that they could make there. That’s a loss, not a win.

      4. Beyonce outsold both Wale and Meek Mill whole album cycle in 4 hours.. she’s went gold faster than Ross at any given album cycle an outsold all the MMG compilation albums combined..

    4. Seems like Target is feeling a lil salty that they did not get their hands on the album first. Note to Target: You dont need Beyonce, Beyonce dont need you. Maybe its time for Target to invent some digital kiosk that you can plug your iphone, ipod, cell phone into and purchase and download music in digital format because unless this Erica Julkowski lady has been living under a rock, CD’s will eventually become obsolete if its not already.

      1. I think they’re more vexxed about the exclusivity w/ itunes and not being told. its silly still though, cause its not like they’re going to make money from this decision

    5. This isnt the first time Target got butthurt over losing sales to a digital pre release! I cant recall the artist or the album but remember reading something very similar on this website!

    6. Does Target still sell tapes too? GTFOH! Physical CD sales is a dinosaur business model, Who really is popping in CD’s in 2013? Not many people, most have a iphone, or android phone that they AUX into their car radio. I put tape on my CD player. Ain’t nobody got time for that!

      1. ” most have a iphone, or android phone that they AUX into their car radio. ”

        thats really not true. i bet like 65% of people dont care and just listen to the radio

      2. You 2 sure are dumb, not everyone uses iphones or ipods, fuck I don’t even buy music at all, who the fuck buys music?

    7. “At Target we focus on offering our guests a wide assortment of physical CDs, and when a new album is available digitally before it is available physically, it impacts demand and sales projections,” Target spokesperson Erica Julkowski

      Aaaah man, they salty…yah don’t carry it and lose alot of money coz many people will be buying the physical format simply because of the hype and Target will miss it target 🙂

      Lets see if Bey will break the Lil Wayne Carter 3 record by selling over a million physicall copies in one week

      1. I have a CD player in my car, in the office, in the game room, etc. I download music & burn it to CD’s. Who the fuck buys music, especially from iTunes, you dumb ass

      2. i use cd’s all the time. cd player at work, cd player in the car, cdplayer/boombox while i take a shit and shower. burn mixes all the time. I WILL NEVER BUY DIGITAL MUSIC. ill download that shit then buy the physical copy. cd’s still sell more then digital copies. ask any label and they will tell you that even tho music doesnt sell as much as before people still buy more hard copies then digi

    8. and clearly this Erica chick does not understand anything about music, she must resign and go be a housewife or something

    9. As a young money groupie bitch with no accounting skills, I can confirm that beyonce has outsold every single artist on young money. Our bitchasses will never sell that many copies in that short amount of time. this is because we are straight bitchmade losers who make shit music and beyonce is better than all of us.

    10. Oh the hypocrites have spoken…so basically y’all are saying how dated cd’s are and that nobody buys them, yet you label Target as being salty for basically saying everything you just said. So basically, she dropped her album ahead of time online, all her fans already bought it, and now she wants Target to buy the albums, plaster her face and album all over their CD section with no chance of selling them. I wouldn’t sell her shit neither, she made a move that takes a away the benefit of carrying her cd in their stores. Bey didn’t drop this album out of nowhere as a gift to her fans or anything…she dropped an album that cost her 0 in promo and packaging, and took advantage of the sheep who saw a new Bey album magically appear and clicked away to buy it without hearing anything. She could’ve sold y’all a bag of herpes and it would’ve sold 80k in 3 hrs

    11. Fuck Target. And fuck these major labels. Beyonce did what i’ve been saying to my self for 3 years. Just drop the album without promotion. And let only a few inside know. If that. Your not going to stop illegal downloading. And major labels nor these stores (Target,Walmart) give a flying fuck about these artists. Including top sellers like Bey. Now watch everyone follow the leader, and just drop there album out of no where.

    12. “Beyonce outsold both Wale and Meek Mill whole album cycle in 4 hours.. she’s went gold faster than Ross at any given album cycle an outsold all the MMG compilation albums combined..”

      She hasn’t outsold drake though and she bought her albums. No album can sell 600k on their own in 3 days.

      1. to the dooshbag above me: im sorry i didnt know u were beyonces accountant. smfh ur a dumbass talkin bout shit u know nothing about. suck a duck u stupid fuck. if it wasnt real sales people would already be talkin about it. you think she wud buy 8 million dollars worth of albums? for what? the point of putting out an album is to add to your catalouge, legacy, for fans, AND TO MAKE MONEY!!! why would she do that? shes already established she dont need big sales #s for the world to recognize it. someone cut this dudes hands off cuz hes typing nonsense

      2. I never said i was beyonce’s accountant. I’m ymcmb’s accountant and beyonce called and said she was going to buy 600k albums to make it look like a success.

      3. “She hasn’t outsold drake though”

        Beyonce’s new album just sold 800K, more than Drake’s recent album. So she already outsold him.

      4. If you believe she bought her own albums you’re just a crab in the bucket hating! Probably a minority too. Hating on your own like you were trained to do!

      5. “It won’t take her 7 months to go platinum like that bitch Kendrick lol”

        At least she’ll go platinum unlike that bitch Rick Ross.

    13. why her make up team making beyonce look so white and trying to rep for Africa in like 3 of her videos? got black women in Africa bleaching their skin to look like her… they been poisoning america for so long they’ve ran out of an audience here

    14. “At least she’ll go platinum unlike that bitch Rick Ross”

      Ross doesn’t need to go platinum to remain relevant. Beyonc does. Nice try though.

    15. “when the last time someone from MMG went platinum? them niggas couldnt even do it once in 8 years”

      Other than Drake, Eminem, Macklemore, Jay Z and Kenwack, who else is going platinum? MMG wins regardless.

      1. What is your personal vendetta against Kendrick? Dude’s a talented rapper who’s helped keeping lyricism alive in the mainstream, put out great music, and is getting recognized by the industry and his peers.

    16. lol @ niggas getting mad at target, it aint personal. its business. There wouldnt be much to gain after most people already bought the album digitally.

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