In a bit of a whiny retail move, Target is refusing to carry Beyoncé’s new self-titled album. As the big box retailer explains to Billboard, “When a new album is available digitally before it is available physically, it impacts demand and sales projections.” In other words, Target doesn’t think it can enough sell copies of a CD that's already sold more than half a million copies online. Tens of thousands of hip moms with CD players in their cars would beg to differ, but whatever. Target needs to save that shelf space for copies of the latest Trans-Siberian Orchestra joint.
The move is even more of an up-yours to Beyoncé, seeing as Target actually distributed an exclusive version of the singer’s last record, 4, when it came out in 2011. The Target-only version of the record held six extra songs, and Beyoncé even appeared in a commercial hyping the store, declaring that “only Target gives you all” of what she put into that album.
Billboard estimates that iTunes accounts for about 41 percent of the U.S. music market share. Target comes in fourth after Walmart and Amazon, and moves about 5 percent of the music sold in the U.S.