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At midnight on Friday the 13th, Beyoncé released her self-titled fifth studio album without any prior announcement, marketing campaign, or any other warning.

The set, featuring 14 songs and 17 videos, rose to No. 1 on iTunes in 100 countries — like only a queen can.

Billboard reveals that the album sold approximately 80,000 copies just in its first 3 hours, and could be headed to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 solely based off of 3 days worth of sales.

Thus far, reviews for the album and its unconventional release have been nothing short of stellar, and it’s definitely well-deserved.

Be sure to get your own copy of Beyoncé’s BEYONCÉ!

The 2014 Grammy Awards nominations were announced live Friday night by the Recording Academy. Beyonce is up for one award, thus becoming the female artist with the most nominations (46) in Grammy history. Congratulations!

BEST RAP/SUNG COLLABORATION
"Power Trip" - J. Cole Featuring Miguel
"Part II (On The Run)" - Jay Z Featuring Beyoncé
"Holy Grail" - Jay Z Featuring Justin Timberlake
"Now Or Never" - Kendrick Lamar Featuring Mary J. Blige
"Remember You" - Wiz Khalifa Featuring The Weeknd

The Grammys awards ceremony will air on CBS on January 26, 2014.

Congratulations to the Queen Bey!

Beyoncé’s documentary Life Is But a Dream arrives at No. 1 on the United Kingdom’s Music Video Top 40 chart this week. This makes Mrs. Carter’s first chart-topping DVD in the territory.

In the US, Life Is But a Dream enters Top Music Videos at No. 1, just ahead of two other new arrivals. This is Beyoncé's fourth No. 1 on this chart, following Live At Wembley (five weeks on top in 2004), I Am…Yours: An Intimate Performance at Wynn Las Vegas (eight weeks in 2009-2010), and I Am…World Tour (nine weeks in 2010-2011). In addition, she had a No. 1 video with Destiny's Child's Live in Atlanta (two weeks in 2006).

Beyoncé earns the No. 1 Hot Tours ranking with $44.9 million in box office grosses from her fall tour through cities in Latin America and Australia, taking the Mrs. Carter Show world tour past the $100 million mark in box office sales since launching in April. The overall gross from the ongoing tour is $104.3 million from more than 883,000 sold tickets at 59 performances, based on box office stats reported to Billboard. Kicking off on April 15 in Serbia, the tour played 23 venues in Europe and 24 in North America through the end of August before beginning tour legs in Latin America and Australia in early September.

The revenue reported this week comes from 19 concerts during the fall trek of the pop star’s world tour. Kicking off a five-city swing through Brazil on Sept. 8, Beyoncé performed in stadiums to begin her South American jaunt. The São Paulo market produced the best attendance among the Brazilian stadiums with more than 37,000 tickets purchased at Estádio do Morumbi. In October and November, the tour traveled Down Under to play six arenas in Australia and New Zealand, wrapping on Nov. 9 in Perth. The top-grosser was a run of four shows at Sydney’s Allphones Arena with $9.4 million (US$) in box office revenue. The four-night stand (Oct. 31-Nov. 3) was the arena’s highest-grossing concert engagement this year, topping box office revenue from multiple performances by P!nk, Bruce Springsteen and One Direction, among others.

Thanks to a now-viral video shot in a hospital operating room, Beyonce's "Get Me Bodied" re-enters Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at No. 14. The energetic track off of her 2006 album "B'Day" spent 48 weeks on the list during its initial run, with a No. 10 peak on June 23, 2007. Beyonce's last appearance as a lead artist on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs was with "Dance for You," which peaked at No. 7 on Oct. 20, 2012. Her only previous 2013 showing was as the featured act on Jay Z's "Part II (On the Run)," which debuted and peaked at No. 29 in July. On the Hot 100, "Bodied" returns at a new high of No. 46; it first peaked at No. 68 in an 18-week run in 2007.

Beyonce has made it onto this year's Variety magazine’s Women’s Impact List!

Beyonce – MUSIC MAKERS
Singer-songwriter

It's not that Beyonce does things that other stars don't, it's just that she does them on a level that few of her contemporaries can match, and 2013 has been a banner year in Beyonce exceptionalism. Other stars sign brand endorsement deals for a quick paycheck — Beyonce gets Pepsi to pony up $50 million for a “creative content development fund,” whose purpose seems to be whatever Beyonce wants it to be. When HBO airs a two-hour documentary on her life, she gets to direct it herself. When she goes on a summer stadium tour, it surpasses $50 million in grosses after the first 30 dates. When Beyonce plays the Super Bowl halftime show, she sets Twitter records and the stadium's power grid goes dark in response. When she gives birth to a daughter with husband, Jay Z, it becomes the hip-hop generation's “Baby Ricky” moment.

Jay-Z and Beyonce Knowles are so much more than just the first couple of hip-hop: They’re a combination of two of the savviest businesspeople in entertainment. They made more than any other celebrity couple this year with an estimated $95 million in earnings between June 2012 and June 2013.

Both are musicians at the top of their games, with multiple hits under their belts. Jay-Z’s recent Watch the Throne album went platinum and launched a world tour that brought in $1.4 million per night in America. Knowles, who took a short break when her daughter Blue Ivy was born in January last year, was back with a vengeance this year with her Mrs. Carter world tour, which grossed an average $2 million per night.

Then there are their other interests. Jay-Z is a part owner of the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where the Brooklyn Nets play. He sold his stake in the team and now has to dump his share in the arena, too, because he’s started his own sports agency: Roc Nation Sports, which represents star athletes like Kevin Durant and Victor Cruz. Knowles has a fragrance collection and a clothing line called House of Deron. Blue Ivy could soon join the family business. She’s already been on one of her Dad’s songs and her parents have petitioned to trademark her name for the right to use it on anything from baby clothes to toys.

Bey and Jay earned $15 million more than the No. 2 couple on the list: Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen.

To compile the list Forbes talked to managers, agents, producers and other in-the-know folks to come up with estimates for each celebrity’s entertainment-related earnings. The research was done for our Celebrity 100 list, which measures earning between June 2012 and June 2013. We did not subtract for taxes, agent fees or other expenses related to being a celebrity.

Beyoncé comes in at number two on this year's 'Most Powerful Musicians' list compiled by Forbes after grossing over $2 million for every Mrs Carter Show date, as well as sponsorship deals with Pepsi and H&M. The tally is based on earnings, social media and press mentions.

On the 'Most Powerful Celebs' list, she ranked at number four after earning $53 million over the last year. According to Forbes, the criteria used to determine the list includes "money and fame, which includes estimated earnings over the last 12 months, and how often each celebrity is mentioned in print and on TV."

Memorial day weekend was big at the box office, breaking records previously set in 2011.

According to box office receipts, $317 million was raked in over the four day weekend (including Friday and Monday), with films featuring R&B singers an actors Tyrese Gibson and Beyonce.

"Fast & Furious 6" debuted atop the list Tuesday, pulling in a total of $120 million in the U.S.. Featuring Tyrese, Vin Diesel and Ludacris, the anticipated movie raked in $317 million in global receipts.

Following "The Hangover III" ($51.2 million, No. 2) and "Star Trek Into Darkness" ($47 million, No. 3), "Epic" debuted at no.4 at the U.S. Box Office, pulling in $42.6 million.

The 3D feature starred Beyonce as Princess Tara, raking in $86.6 million globally.

In just a year, Beyoncé moved from #32 to #17 on Forbes' annual The World's Most Powerful Women list. She and Oprah are the only celebrity/entrepreneurs in the top 20, ranking among First Lady Michelle Obama (#4); Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff (#2); and Xerox Chairman and CEO Ursula Burns (#14).

The publication considered income, traditional and social media hits, and impact "across industries, cultures and countries."

King Bey's year so far consists of a $50 million deal with Pepsi (PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi was placed at #10) that includes her 15-minute performance at the Super Bowl (the most coveted program for advertisers); a record-breaking audience for her HBO autobiographical documentary, Life Is but a Dream; and a 65-date Mrs. Carter Show World Tour added to the heft of her 2012 portfolio.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z were also placed in third spot on the Most Powerful Couples list with the magazine citing their financial clout and high profile friendships as reasons for their high position. Earlier this year, she and husband (who was placed on the cover of Time magazine as one of their 100 most influential people in the world) became pop music's first billionaire couple. The duo worked together on The Great Gatsby soundtrack, a movie which brought in $51 million in domestic box office sales during its opening weekend; and celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary with a controversial trip to Cuba.

The 50 Most Powerful Working Moms in the U.S. were named the other day by Working Mother magazine in honor of Mother’s Day and Beyonce was awarded the top spot. Other notables on the list included Gisele Bundchen, Mariah Carey, Tina Fey, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Melissa McCarthy, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Simpson, and Gwen Stefani.

Maxim magazine also unveiled their annual Hot 100 list, where Beyonce ranked at No. 14. Check out the full list here.

Today from the "Who Runs the World" files: Jay-Z and Beyonce on the Time 100 list of the world's most influential people.

Time casts luminaries to write appreciations of those the magazine selects to be on the list, and none other than New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg penned the article on Jay-Z, who graces the cover of the magazine. "The Great Gatsby" director Baz Luhrmann took up the task of celebrating Beyonce.

Bloomberg writes that Jay-Z's path from Brooklyn drug dealer to music and business mogul represents "what makes New York New York."

"He’s an artist-entrepreneur who stands at the center of culture and commerce in 21st century America, and his influence stretches across races, religions and regions," the mayor writes.

Luhrmann, who fielded a song for the soundtrack of "The Great Gatsby" (which Jay-Z produced) from Beyonce, positions the "icon" as a singular talent. "No one has that voice, no one moves the way she moves, no one can hold an audience the way she does," he writes.

"When Beyonce does an album, when Beyonce sings a song, when Beyonce does anything, it’s an event, and it’s broadly influential," Luhrmann writes. "Right now, she is the heir-apparent diva of the USA — the reigning national voice."

Wonderfully enough, they're even counted among one another's best accomplishments. Luhrmann describes the couple as "the royal couple of culture" and, in a parenthetical that could have been the focal point of Bloomberg's Jay-Z post, the mayor dryly notes that "He even put a ring on Beyonce."

Today, Xfinity TV from Comcast announced the winners of the 3rd Annual Xfinity On Demand Awards, a yearly salute to the most-watched TV series, movies and musicians On Demand. As Hollywood’s biggest movie awards shows honor the biggest films of the silver screen, the Xfinity On Demand Awards recognizes the most-viewed On Demand content on the TV screen. This year’s big Award winners include audience favorites like The Big Bang Theory, Duck Dynasty, 21 Jump Street and Beyoncé.

“Each year, we look forward to seeing which shows, movies and musicians were top choices among audiences across the country. We saw huge growth in On Demand views this year, especially for current-season TV shows,” says Maggie McLean Suniewick, Vice President, Video Services, Comcast Cable. “Xfinity On Demand is a top viewing destination for our customers, which is a testament to the continually growing library of content that we offer on the platform.”

Data revealed that comedies ruled in both movies and TV series in 2012. It was also a big year for premium network television, as HBO’s Game of Thrones and Girls (winner of two Golden Globes) were among the most-viewed overall television series.

The 2012 Xfinity On Demand Awards winners include:

Music
• Most-Viewed Musical Artist: Beyoncé
   o Followed by Nicki Minaj and Chris Brown

credit: Xfinity

Beyonce proved a huge draw for HBO on Saturday night.

The intimate documentary about the singer, Beyonce: Life is But a Dream, pulled 1.8 million viewers during its inaugural outing at 9 p.m. ET. It's the largest audience for a HBO doc since Nielsen revised its method of measuring viewership in 2004.

The only other documentary to approach Beyonce's haul was previous record-setter When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts. The Spike Lee miniseries about the devastation caused to New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina earned 1.7 million viewers in 2006.

Life is But a Dream's handsome haul pulled three times the ratings of recent first-runs for HBO's Sunday series Girls.

While Beyonce saw some early sales increases a week ago on Billboard's charts, the full impact of her Feb. 3 Super Bowl halftime performance is felt on this week's tallies.

The new charts reflect the Nielsen SoundScan sales tracking week that ended on Feb. 10 -- the first week's worth of post-game reaction.

For the week, the overall combined album sales of Beyonce and her group Destiny's Child (which reformed during the show) gain by 40% to 28,000. The largest-selling album of either act for the past week was Beyonce's "4," which moved 6,000 (up 59%).

In the week before the Super Bowl (ending Jan. 27), their combined album sales were just 7,000. A week later (ending Feb. 3), they moved 20,000.

Individually, Beyonce's albums sold 15,000 in the week ending Feb. 10 (up 62% from 9,000) while Destiny's Child's moved 13,000 (up 21% from 11,000).

A year ago, in the first week after the Super Bowl, 2012 halftime performer Madonna saw her album sales dip to 22,000 (down from 26,000 the week of the game).

In terms of song download sales, the Beyonce and Destiny's Child sold a combined 280,000 downloads (up 68%) for the week ending Feb. 10. Comparatively, in the week ending Jan. 27, they sold 72,000. A week later, they jumped to 167,000.

The best-selling song by either for the week ending Feb. 10 was Beyonce's "Crazy In Love" -- which was performed in the halftime set. It sold 33,000 for a gain of 203%. The next four largest-selling Beyonce/Destiny's Child songs for the Feb. 10 week were all by Beyonce: "Halo" (32,000; up 68%), "Single Ladies" (22,000; up 81%), "Love On Top" (18,000; up 94%) and "End of Time" (12,000; up 212%).

With a week of televised promotion leading into the Super Bowl on Feb. 3 (combined with her headlining halftime performance), it comes with little surprise that Beyonce surges to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Social 50.

This is her first time in the No. 1 spot in the 114 weeks she’s resided on the chart. She takes the throne with a 42% boost in weekly fan acquisition, adding 794,000 followers across multiple online platforms.

For the game, Twitter fans created the #beyoncebowl hashtag that was used in over 200,000 tweets since the Sunday broadcast, according to Twitter. Her account (@beyonce) gained 108,000 new followers for the week: an 86% boost over the previous frame.

Her audience gains on Twitter were dwarfed by the numbers she posted on Instagram. During the charting week she gained over 375,000 new followers to her account, @baddiebey (a 116% increase in growth over the previous week). According to a post-game blog post published by Instagram, over 200 photos per second were posted about Beyonce alone during her halftime performance.

She built momentum for the broadcast on her YouTube channel as well, posting rehearsal footage each day for four days leading up to the Super Bowl. It's a strategy commonly used by major artists who use VEVO for their major video releases (like official videos), but use YouTube instead for more informal content. It gives acts the chance to engage with their audience in between major video releases.

Each of the Super Bowl halftime behind-the-scenes videos received between 100,000 and 600,000 views, culminating in a 505% increase in her weekly YouTube channel views.

Internet Radio Pandora also notes some interesting post-Super Bowl Beyonce reaction behavior as well. Since the broadcast, over 46,000 Beyonce stations have been created on Pandora, a 158% increase in station creations to date.

While the Super Bowl happened on the final day (Feb. 3) of the most recent Nielsen SoundScan sales tracking week, the game's halftime performer -- Beyonce -- still sees some mighty sales gains on the charts.

The diva headlined the CBS-broadcast festivities in New Orleans, where she performed eight songs and reunited with Destiny's Child.

In terms of sales figures, Beyonce's catalog of albums (solo and with Destiny's Child) sold 20,000 in the week ending Feb. 3 -- up 197% compared to the previous week. Splitting the two acts apart, Beyonce sold 9,000 (up 119%) while Destiny's Child shifted 11,000 (up 328%). The latter number is inflated thanks to the new release Love Songs, which bowed on Tuesday, Jan. 29. The compilation sold 6,000 copies and debuts at No. 72 on the Billboard 200.

Love Songs features one new recording, "Nuclear," which moved 4,000 downloads last week (its debut frame). It was Destiny's Child's fourth-largest seller for the week, after "Say My Name" (6,000; up 231%), "Survivor" (5,000; up 168%) and "Independent Women (Part 1)" (4,000; up 550%).

Two Destiny's Child tunes were performed at the Super Bowl: "Bootylicious" and "Independent Women (Part 1)." As for "Bootylicious," its sales also gained. It sold 4,000 last week -- up 347%.

As for overall digital song sales, Beyonce and Destiny's Child shifted 167,000 downloads for the week (up 132%). Beyonce's own songs moved 122,000 (up 103%) while Destiny's Child's sold 44,000 (up 286%).

The biggest selling song for either act in the week was Beyonce's "Halo," which moved 19,000 downloads (up 338%). The song closed the diva's halftime performance.

Further impact from the halftime show could be felt next week, after a full seven days' worth of sales are registered post-game.

The half-hour that included Beyonce’s performance at Super Bowl XLVII was one of the most watched segments of the NFL championship on Sunday, hitting an average of about 104 million viewers, Billboard estimates, based on Nielsen data.

Nielsen estimated 108.41 million viewers tuned in for the Super Bowl, making it the third-most-watched program in television history behind Super Bowl XLVI and Super Bowl XLV. Nielsen, heeding CBS’s request, is not counting the 34-minute power outage delay in its ratings.

The halftime show began shortly before 8:10 p.m. ET and between 8 and 8:30, the show did a 48.2 rating, according to Nielsen’s metered market ratings. Based on Nielsen’s math of a little more than two viewers per television set, the viewership is in the 104 million ballpark. It is highly likely that when final numbers are released, Beyonce’s total will be lower than the 104 million estimate.

The block with Beyonce’s 14-minute performance outperformed the previous half-hour by three-tenths of a rating point. The Baltimore Ravens-San Francisco 49ers game peaked, audience-wise, between 10:30 and 10:47 p.m. when an average of 113.982 million viewers were watching.

The audience for Beyonce trailed Madonna’s performance at last year’s Super Bowl. Madge attracted 112.5 million viewers, surpassing the 95.7 million who watched Bruce Springsteen in 2009.

Beyonce’s performance was a showcase to promote her upcoming tour that will start with a June 28 concert at L.A.’s Staples center. Her show will be the kickoff of a three-day BET Experience at L.A. Live that will include music and comedy concerts, film screenings, “106 & Park” tapings, BET Fan Fest, seminars, a Grammy Museum exhibit and other events.

Beyonce's Super Bowl halftime show has predictably sent sales of her music skyrocketing.

The diva headlined the Super Bowl XLVII halftime festivities in New Orleans last night (Feb. 3), where she performed eight songs and reunited with Destiny's Child.

Industry sources suggest that in the week ending Feb. 3, Beyonce's digital album sales jumped by over 230%. Meanwhile, those of her group Destiny's Child soared by more than 600%. That latter increase is inordinately large as it includes sales of the trio's brand new "Love Songs" compilation, released last Tuesday. The set features one new recording, "Nuclear."

The album sales gains are also aided by discount pricing in both the iTunes and Amazon MP3 stores. The former discounted key earlier titles from Beyonce and Destiny's Child to $7.99 while the latter marked them down to between $5 and $7.99.

In terms of digital song sales, Beyonce's grew by an estimated 85% while Destiny Child's rose by over 300%.

Beyonce's biggest selling song of the week was "Halo," which closed her eight-song halftime set. The biggest Destiny's Child song of the week, according to early data, looks to be "Say My Name" (which was not part of the halftime medley). Two Destiny's Child tunes were performed at the Super Bowl: "Bootylicious" and "Independent Women (Part 1)."

The week's official Nielsen SoundScan sales figures for Beyonce and Destiny's Child will be released on Wednesday (Feb. 6). Further impact from the halftime show will be felt next week, after a full seven days' worth of sales are registered post-game.