Beyoncé's 2016 album Lemonade made a sizeable impact on the charts when it debuted two years ago. Similar to her previous self-titled album, Lemonade included a visual accompaniment in the form of a 60 minute poetic short film that deepened the contextual implications of her impassioned song cycle.
After her highly-praised Coachella performance, which included a miniature Destiny's Child reunion, her sixth studio album has skyrocketed to the top of the global iTunes chart once again. In the United States, the album has ascended to the fifth position, behind Kendrick Lamar's DAMN and Cardi B's Invasion of Privacy.
The tally only credits pure album sales, as opposed to streaming data, which has become to the most popular method of music consumption in recent years. However, Lemonade is only available to stream on her husband's Tidal platform, which means that the bulk of the general public can only access her masterwork by purchasing it from retailers such as the iTunes store. The album moved 653,000 copies when it was released in April of 2016, with a massive 485,000 coming from album sales alone.
Beyoncé is one of the few contemporary artists who can turn any performance into a life-affirming event, all while reaping the fiscal benefits of her iconic stage presence.