America Celebrates Beyonce's 'B'Day' With a #1 Debut on Billboard Top 200

America Celebrates Beyonce's 'B'Day' With a #1 Debut on Billboard Top 200

NEW YORK, Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Pop superstar Beyonce's second solo album, B'Day, has just entered the Billboard Top 200 best-selling albums chart at #1 with true first week's sales of 541,196, according to SoundScan. (The pop superstar's first solo album, 2003's Grammy-winning "Dangerously In Love," also debuted in the #1 slot, with true first week's sales of 316,846.)

The #1 US chart debut of B'Day was mirrored in Japan, where the album rocketed up the international album chart in a record-breaking 2-1/2 days after its worldwide release on September 4, Beyonce's birthday.

The international pop music icon most recently topped around the world with "Deja Vu" (featuring Jay-Z), the first single from B'Day.

A bona fide international sensation, "Deja Vu" became the #1 commercial single in Japan and the United Kingdom and achieved #1 Airplay in Hong Kong and Korea. The track made it to #1 on the German Club Charts, became the #1 R&B Airplay song in the Philippines and made it to #1 on major stations in Indonesia.

Back in the States, "Deja Vu" peaked at #1 on the Single Sales chart, #1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart, and #1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales chart in the US, according to Billboard. "Deja Vu" was also a #1 song on iTunes.

A groundbreaking video for "Deja Vu," lensed by the world-renowned British director Sophie Muller (an MTV Music Video Award winner), was the #1 video on Yahoo!, the #1 most-streamed video at MTV.com, and the #1 video on MTV's "TRL" ("Total Request Live"). The "Deja Vu" video has also hit the #1 spot in the UK.

In addition to "Deja Vu," B'Day includes the just-released "Ring The Alarm," which Beyonce performed to show-stopping effect during a memorable appearance at this year's MTV Video Music Awards. The artist's "Check On It" video took home the MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video.

Beyonce became one of the most widely-recognized and highly-respected women in pop culture as a founding member of Destiny's Child, the top-selling female group of all time.

Over the past decade, Beyonce has earned numerous accolades including Grammy Awards, American Music Awards, World Music Awards, and NAACP Image Awards. In 2001, when Beyonce took home an ASCAP Pop Songwriter of the Year Award, she became the first African-American woman -- and the second woman ever -- to receive that honor.

In 2005, Beyonce (whose celebrity endorsements include Pepsi, L'Oreal, and Tommy Hilfiger True Star fragrances) and her mother, Tina Knowles (clothing and fashion stylist for Destiny's Child) launched a fashion line, House of Dereon, named for Beyonce's maternal grandmother.

Beyonce made her acting debut in 2001 in the made-for-television production "MTV's Hip Hopera: Carmen." In 2002, she co-starred as "Foxxy Cleopatra" opposite Mike Myers in "Austin Powers In Goldmember," cited in the Guinness Book of World Records for achieving the Highest Box Office Comedy Film Gross ($71.5 million over first three days) in film history. 2003 saw Beyonce appearing with Cuba Gooding Jr. in the gospel-music inspired family film, "The Fighting Temptations." The iconic performer took home her 9th Grammy Award (for her duet with Stevie Wonder, "So Amazing") in 2006 as her then-current single -- "Check On It" -- topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the third week in a row; and her latest film, "The Pink Panther," starring Steve Martin become America's #1 box office sensation. Both "Austin Powers in Goldmember" and "The Pink Panther" opened at #1 at the box office in the U.S. Beyonce's latest film project, the movie version of the hit musical "Dreamgirls, is slated for release in December 2006.

www.beyonceonline.com
Fan club: www.welovebeyonce.com
www.houseofdereon.com
www.columbiarecords.com

Source: Music World Music/Sony Urban Music/Columbia Records

CONTACT: Yvette Noel-Schure, Sony Urban Music, New York,
+1-212-833-4483, Yvette.Noel-Schure@sonybmg.com

Web site: http://www.columbiarecords.com/
http://www.beyonceonline.com/
http://www.welovebeyonce.com/
http://www.houseofdereon.com/

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