Katy has never been a good first week seller regardless if she has smash hit or previous smash eras (see: teenage dream)

Gaga.... well... that's another story... she was coming of a good era (not huge... she lost momentum in the middle of the BTW era and it wen't downhill from there) and that whole Applause / DWUW mess killed her even more (+ no amazon discount )... she was never going to open big.

Beyoncé, on the hand, would have done better than 4... DIL would have been a hit regardless and she would have handled promotion differently... she had the hype... she had the critically aclaimed music (which is also hype)... I mean... I don't see how she would have done Katy / Gaga underwhelming numbers...

Let me get this straight.
Because of the 'surprise release', it did the numbers that it did.
But didn't y'all say the Superbowl/HBODoc/Tour/Pepsi/H&M/RiseUp/MetGala/InstagramPosts were all promo for this album and thats why it did the numbers it did?

Which one.

But you said she would have rush released DIL after the "hypothetical" flop of XO if she released the singles first. I just showed you that Beyoncé isn't scared of her flops... she rides with them like planed and only moves on to another single after she's done with it.... she is not the type of artist who "rush release" and pretend she never released a song.

But back to point... well... yeah, she would have opened bigger than 4.

Well, she does pretend like it doesn't exist. She doesn't do it on tour, got pulled from Pop radio and pretends like it wasn't her LEAD single. So yes, A rush release would have been imminent.

With the Superbowl, documentary, "All eyes on her" media and a Q4 December release, the album woulda opened huge with or without the surprise release.

If she did a normal release, with a full week of sales, it would probably do around the same. You seriously undermine her power and how much hype she had the entire year with all the magazines, headlines, and even the Mrs. Carter World Tour.

She sold ~650K in 3 days, she woulda gotten the same with a full week.

Regardless, with Promo I think Drunk in Love would still be a hit. Maybe bigger if she did more than one promo spot.

People were going to buy the Beyonce album whether it being a surprise release or not. Lets not forget that it had much anticipation. Why are you guys taking credit away from her just because she did a surprise release? If anything, you guys should be praising her for being a smart and strategic businesswoman who changed the game and has already influenced so many other major music acts with her innovation.

Funny.

She still constantly performs Get Me Bodied, Upgrade U, Why Don't You Love Me, Diva and Run the World (considered the biggest flop of her career).

Thats lovely sweetie now what does that have to do with XO being a flop lead single? So are you agreeing that she's pretending the song doesn't exist altogether by not performing it in a medley of her other flops? I mean it flopped in the UK after a BRITS performance.

She literally played it multiple times during MCWT, what exactly are you trying to get at?

It didn't flop in the UK, it went #22 which isn't terrible

She's not pretending the song doesn't exist. She'll perform what SHE wants to whether it flops or not. I just listed all the songs she still sings that flopped. You're surely mistaken if you think she cares if a song doesn't do well, enough to let it influence what she performs and what she doesn't.

This thread can go as well.