Sorry Beyoncé fans. As much as I love the Queen myself, she did not invent the surprise album release. She wasn’t the first, and as evidenced by the growing trend, she certainly wasn’t the last.
Radiohead appear to be the godfathers of the whole thing, who announced the release of their now-classic album In Rainbows a mere ten days before its release in 2007. They followed that up with The King of Limbs, announcing the album five days before its release, then even released it a day early back in 2011. Another repeat offender of the surprise release is London electronic artist Burial, who announced the existence of several of his EPs a mere few days before being released.
While the surprise album release used to be quite the novelty in the music industry, its effect is growing somewhat weary as more and more artists begin to release their music early or even entirely out of the blue, whether to fend off leaks, because of studio mistakes, or due to other reasons entirely. Beyoncé may not have invented the surprise album release, but she seems to have made it OK for other big-name artists to follow in her footsteps.
Kendrick Lamar‘s To Pimp a Butterfly (the long-awaited follow-up to 2012’s good kid, m.A.A.d city) was just announced on March 10 and released eight days earlier than its set release date. Just today, rapper Earl Sweatshirt announced that his next album would be released next week. Kanye West has seemingly created the non-surprise surprise album release, announcing in an interview that his next album, So Help Me God, would be released as a surprise. It certainly is 2015, isn’t it?
Here’s a look at the brief but ever-growing history of the surprise album release:
Radiohead, In Rainbows
Announced on September 30, 2007 and released on October 10.
Radiohead, The King of Limbs (February 18, 2011)
Announced on February 14, 2011, set for release on February 19, and released one day early on February 18.
Burial, Street Halo
Announced by the label less than a week prior to its release date on March 28, 2011.
Frank Ocean, Channel Orange
Released digitally one week early on July 10, 2012 to prevent it from leaking.
My Bloody Valentine, m b v
Released out of the blue after 22 years in the dark on February 2, 2013.
Death Grips, Government Plates
Released on November 13, 2013 without any forewarning.
Burial, Rival Dealer
Announced on December 2, 2013 and released digitally on December 11.
Beyoncé, Beyoncé
Released on December 13, 2013 with absolutely no warning, proceeding to “break” the music industry.
D’Angelo and The Vanguard, Black Messiah
After D’Angelo’s 14-year hiatus, the album was unexpectedly released on December 15, 2014
Drake, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late (February 13, 2015)
Drake’s “mixtape” was released on iTunes without any prior announcement on February 13, 2015.
Kendrick Lamar, To Pimp a Butterfly (March 16, 2015)
After being announced on March 10, 2015, with a set release date of March 24, it was released eight days earlier on March 16.
Earl Sweatshirt, I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside (March 23, 2015)
Announced on March 17, 2015 with a set release date of March 23.
Kanye West, So Help Me God ( TBA?)
Kanye being Kanye, it’ll be released whenever he damn feels like it.
