NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • Deloitte Fast 50
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Entertainment

We can't stop talking about Beyoncé, but is she selling as much music as we think?

By Lavanya Ramanathan
Washington Post·
6 May, 2016 12:00 AM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Watch: Beyonce's LEMONADE Trailer
Source: HBO ...
Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
/
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
0:00
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time -0:00
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • subtitles settings, opens subtitles settings dialog
    • subtitles off, selected

      This is a modal window.

      Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

      Text
      Text Background
      Caption Area Background
      Font Size
      Text Edge Style
      Font Family

      End of dialog window.

      This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.

      Autoplay in
      3
      Disable Autoplay
      Cancel Video
      Source: HBO
      NOW PLAYING • Watch: Beyonce's LEMONADE Trailer
      Source: HBO ...

      When Beyoncé squeezed personal drama and innuendo into an unsettling glass of Lemonade last week, it seemed all but certain that the album, Queen B's sixth, would slay its way up the charts, just as her past five albums have.

      Oh, it slayed: Look at the streams. The viewership numbers for the "visual album" HBO premiere. Count up the tweets: 4.1 million in the days right after "Lemonade" dropped (no word on how many involved the word "Becky," the alleged side-chick in her relationship with Jay Z).

      Beyonce swims underwater in one scene from her Lemonade music video. Photo / HBO
      Beyonce swims underwater in one scene from her Lemonade music video. Photo / HBO

      But ask if we're actually buying what Beyoncé is throwing down, and the best answer we can come up with is: Yassss, nah and hard to say.

      Fans bought nearly 500,000 digital copies of Lemonade last week, enough for the album, and Beyoncé, to snatch the No. 1 position on the Billboard chart.

      Unlock all articles by subscribing to this international offer

      All-Access + BusinessDesk Weekly

      Herald Premium, Viva Premium, The Listener & BusinessDesk
      Pay just
      $10
      $2
      per week
      See all offers
      Already a subscriber? Sign in here
      Or
      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.
      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      Every one of the album's 12 songs, from the already viral Formation to the ornery, fuzzed-out rager Don't Hurt Yourself, is also perched somewhere on Billboard's hot singles list.

      And more than 780,000 people tuned in to HBO to watch Bey, in a marigold-colored Cavalli frock, smile beatifically as she swung a baseball bat like Ty Cobb.

      Even the lowly lemon emoji, long the redheaded stepchild of the eggplant and the flamenco-dancer lady, emerged from the Lemonade hype-storm triumphant, spiking from fewer than 50,000 instances in tweets to nearly 500,000 in a single day.

      If we're talking about influence, clout and pop-cultural dominance, Bey is the high priestess of the hive and of our Twitter feeds.

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      I wasn't originally a major fan of Beyoncé but damn she slayed with this 😍 #DontHurtYourself #Lemonade #Beyonce https://t.co/WC02zM04Vr

      — toastín 𓃰 (@peachypichuwu) April 28, 2016

      But Drake (who is kind of a Becky) is blowing Lemonade out of the water.

      Views, the rapper's new album, has already outsold Lemonade in its first week, moving 770,000 copies in just a couple of days. Adele's 25 also trumped "Lemonade" in its first week last year, selling more than 3 million copies, compared with Beyonce's 485,000.

      Taylor Swift? She sells more albums, too.

      But Queen B's reign is hardly over. Rather, making sense of music-industry numbers has become as complicated as understanding the national debt. The truth is that one of the world's most influential pop stars isn't selling as many records as you think she is.

      Discover more

      Entertainment

      Beyonce disputes claim she's anti-police

      06 Apr 09:00 AM
      Entertainment

      Beyonce's mystery project unveiled

      19 Apr 09:30 AM
      Entertainment

      Does Beyonce's album hint at infidelity?

      25 Apr 07:23 PM
      Entertainment

      Beyonce fans threaten wrong Rachael

      25 Apr 09:35 PM

      "Music is being fragmented in several different ways," says Dave Bakula, senior vice president of industry insights for Nielsen Music, which tracks sales and streams data. "If you're not looking at the entire picture, you're going to draw bad conclusions."

      Beyonce emerges through a wall of water pouring out of a door way in a still from Beyonce's "Lemonade" video.
      Beyonce emerges through a wall of water pouring out of a door way in a still from Beyonce's "Lemonade" video.

      Since late 2014, in tallying sales, the industry has been counting streams - users listening to music on-demand on Spotify, Tidal and other services - because the number of people accessing music can far outweigh album sales.

      The industry tallies 1,500 streams as a "sale" of an album, calling it "equivalent album sales." It also tabulates the purchase of 10 individual songs on services such as Apple Music as one album, even if many music fans are flocking to buy a single song, such as Formation.

      Look at Trap Queen rapper Fetty Wap. He landed at No. 1 on the album charts with just 75,000 albums sold, while streams of his hit (more than 400 million streams on Spotify alone) and his other tracks pretty much carried him across the finish line.

      Kanye West's The Life of Pablo is similarly upending the idea that albums have to sell for a musician to have a hit on their hands. (He simply sold tickets, starting at $25, double the price of an album, to a worldwide album release event.)

      Confused yet?

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      So are we.

      It was far easier to make sense of sales numbers and influence way back in 2013, when Beyoncé's self-titled fifth record went live on iTunes in the dead of night, its "surprise drop" marketing technique now copied so often that it's a yawn-inducing trope.

      Bey's deal with Tidal, owned by hubby Jay Z, also limited the exclusive sales of Lemonade to that service for the first couple of days after the album's release. Photo / NZPA
      Bey's deal with Tidal, owned by hubby Jay Z, also limited the exclusive sales of Lemonade to that service for the first couple of days after the album's release. Photo / NZPA

      But if you think that orchestrating a ninjalike album release was Beyoncé's biggest coup, you're vastly underestimating the singer.

      Her exclusive deal with iTunes for that album also demanded that buyers purchase Beyoncé in its entirety (with videos) for $15.99 a pop, at a time when the iTunes a la carte model had made compost of the whole notion of the album.

      The service reported that in its first three days, it had sold 828,773 full copies of Beyoncé - an iTunes record.

      Musicians and their labels began throwing the pasta at the metaphorical wall in marketing and selling records.

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      Jay Z had already cut a deal to distribute Magna Carta Holy Grail through Samsung phones, and some argued that it was a ploy to go platinum at a time when few albums did. And U2 just handed out its album Songs of Innocence like Halloween candy, slipping it into a half-billion iTunes accounts.

      That's not sales. But it's ubiquity.

      Beyoncé's Lemonade is an album for precisely that new world order. She may even be knowingly leaving some sales on the table. With its accompanying visual album, it's selling for $17.99. Views, the competition, is going for $13.99, like some kind of bargain-bin record. Some listeners and potential buyers might just have tuned in to HBO to watch the film version.

      Beyonce in a clip from video for her album Lemonade.
      Beyonce in a clip from video for her album Lemonade.

      Bey's deal with Tidal, owned by hubby Jay Z, also limited the exclusive sales of Lemonade to that service for the first couple of days after the album's release, and grants Tidal streaming rights in the future.

      "You probably have a lot of Beyoncé fans out there that are Spotify subscribers, and they're going, 'Wait a minute, now I have to go to Tidal?' Is that switching some people over? Yeah, probably." But it's just as likely, Nielsen Music's Bakula says, that Bey's exclusivity deal is turning off consumers - for now, anyway.

      Even so, Lemonade's success is off the charts in terms of streaming: "When you have 115 million on-demand audio streams in one week, which is a record, by a long shot - that's why we went back and changed the chart," Bakula says. Success is no longer measured in just sales.

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      For Beyoncé, album sales are just a crumb that somehow fell from the large, lucrative (probably vegan) Beyoncé pie, anyway.

      Because there are tour earnings: Nearly 1 million tickets for her Formation summer stadium tour were sold in the week after her Super Bowl appearance in February; currently, nearly three-quarters of the concerts are sold out.

      There is whatever deal she cut with HBO to premiere Lemonade on the network, the details of which haven't been revealed.

      She unveiled a sizable Topshop athleisure fashion line, Ivy Park, this spring.
      Have no doubt: Beyoncé is sipping lemonade all the way to the bank.

      "Oh," Bakula says, "she's doing just fine."

      Save
        Share this article

      Latest from Entertainment

      Entertainment

      Beloved Play School star and jazz pioneer dies at 89

      Entertainment

      Maluma takes fan to task for bringing baby to loud concert

      Entertainment

      The chilling brilliance of Weapons and its unforgettable moments


      Sponsored

      Sponsored: What have you missed? Tips and tricks for home DIY

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      Recommended for you

      Woman says she was left with collapsing nostril after being 'upsold' unnecessary surgery
      Healthcare

      Woman says she was left with collapsing nostril after being 'upsold' unnecessary surgery

      Chinese vessels collide while pursuing Philippine boat in South China Sea
      World

      Chinese vessels collide while pursuing Philippine boat in South China Sea

      Beloved Play School star and jazz pioneer dies at 89
      Entertainment

      Beloved Play School star and jazz pioneer dies at 89

      Heartbreak as woman found dead in apartment block
      New Zealand

      Heartbreak as woman found dead in apartment block

      Female Auckland education worker charged with grooming, sexually abusing boys
      New Zealand

      Female Auckland education worker charged with grooming, sexually abusing boys

      New poll: Luxon’s popularity drops to lowest in two years, Labour rises
      Politics

      New poll: Luxon’s popularity drops to lowest in two years, Labour rises



      Latest from Entertainment

      Beloved Play School star and jazz pioneer dies at 89
      Entertainment

      Beloved Play School star and jazz pioneer dies at 89

      She earned an Order of Australia Medal in 2004 for her contributions.

      11 Aug 07:37 AM
      Maluma takes fan to task for bringing baby to loud concert
      Entertainment

      Maluma takes fan to task for bringing baby to loud concert

      11 Aug 05:37 AM
      The chilling brilliance of Weapons and its unforgettable moments
      Entertainment

      The chilling brilliance of Weapons and its unforgettable moments

      11 Aug 01:54 AM


      Sponsored: What have you missed? Tips and tricks for home DIY
      Sponsored

      Sponsored: What have you missed? Tips and tricks for home DIY

      03 Aug 07:46 AM

      NZ Herald
      • About NZ Herald
      • Meet the journalists
      • Newsletters
      • Classifieds
      • Help & support
      • Contact us
      • House rules
      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms of use
      • Competition terms & conditions
      • Our use of AI
      Subscriber Services
      • NZ Herald e-editions
      • Daily puzzles & quizzes
      • Manage your digital subscription
      • Manage your print subscription
      • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
      • Subscribe to Herald Premium
      • Gift a subscription
      • Subscriber FAQs
      • Subscription terms & conditions
      • Promotions and subscriber benefits
      NZME Network
      • The New Zealand Herald
      • The Northland Age
      • The Northern Advocate
      • Waikato Herald
      • Bay of Plenty Times
      • Rotorua Daily Post
      • Hawke's Bay Today
      • Whanganui Chronicle
      • Viva
      • NZ Listener
      • Newstalk ZB
      • BusinessDesk
      • OneRoof
      • Driven Car Guide
      • iHeart Radio
      • Restaurant Hub
      NZME
      • About NZME
      • NZME careers
      • Advertise with NZME
      • Digital self-service advertising
      • Book your classified ad
      • Photo sales
      • NZME Events
      • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
      All-Access. All in one subscription.
      Subscribe now

      All-Access + BusinessDesk Weekly

      Pay just
      $10
      $2
      per week
      Subscribe now
      BEST VALUE

      All-Access + BusinessDesk Annual

      Pay just
      $349
      $49
      per year
      Subscribe now
      Learn more
      30
      TOP
      search by queryly Advanced Search