4 (Beyoncé album)

chronology
4th
Beyoncé's studio album
Publication ; (s)	June 24, 2011
admission	2009-2011
Label (s)	Columbia
Format (s)	CD
Genre (s)	Contemporary R&B , Pop
Title (number)	12 13 or 12/6 with bonus pieces
running time	46:33
production	Antonio Dixon, Babyface , Brent Kutzle , Beyoncé Knowles (Executive Producer) , Caleb, Jeff Bhasker, Julian Napolitano, Jens Bergmark, Kuk Harrell, Kanye West , Kaskade , Luke Steele , Los Da Mystro , Ryan Tedder , Shea Taylor, Switch, Symbolyc One, The-Dream
April 21, 2011	Run the World (Girls)
June 1, 2011	Best Thing I Never Had
4th October 2011	countdown
December 7, 2011	Love on top
2012	I Was Here

4 is the fourth studio album by the American singer Beyoncé . It was released on Columbia Records in June 2011 .

Emergence

Knowles promoters on a picture of 4 .

Beyoncé delivered 72 tracks to her record label for her fourth album. She started working on the album in the spring of 2009 and was working with the band from the Broadway musical Feal! together.

Most of 4 were recorded at MSR Studios in New York City , but recordings have also taken place in Los Angeles , Las Vegas , Denver , Boston , Hollywood , Atlanta and Honolulu, as well as London and Sydney .

reception

On the Metacritic.com website , the album received 74 points out of 100 based on 30 reviews in English. Allmusic's Andy Kellman wrote that the strength of most of the pieces on the album and Knowles' "acrobatic vocal skills" alleviated the problem of digging through the rest of the "tangled mix" on the album. Only an artist like Beyoncé Knowles, who had nothing to prove with 16 Grammys , could have made such an album. He awarded 3.5 out of five stars.

Cover

The official cover art for Album 4 was posted on Knowles' website on May 18, 2011, the same day the album's release date was announced and the music video for Run the World (Girls) premiered. On the cover picture, Knowles is only covered by a blue cloth that covers her intimate areas.

Commercial win

On the first day after its release, the album sold 32,000 copies in the United Kingdom and after the first week of sales on July 4, 2011, it entered the British album charts at number 1 with a total of 89,211 units .

In the United States, 4 debuted at number 1 on the American Billboard 200 with 310,000 units sold, and was later named one of the most successful albums of 2011 by various magazines.

Single releases

On April 21, 2011 Run the World (Girls) was released as the first single on the album. On May 7, it debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 33 and reached its top position at number 23, making it Knowles' weakest first single release to date.

The second single, Best Thing I Never Had , was released on June 1, 2011 and was first aired on radio in the United States on the same day. In Germany, the release of Run the World (Girls) was directly replaced by Best Thing I Never Had . On the last day of the Glastonbury Festival , Knowles gave a 90-minute concert, which brought numerous songs by her back to the UK charts and Best Thing I Never Had even debuted there at number 3. The album also made it to number 1 on the British album charts a week after Knowles' concert.

On May 25, 2011 1 + 1 was released as a promotional single, on the same day Knowles presented the piece for the first time on American Idol . The piece was able to position itself in the charts in several countries. a. ranks 57th on the US Billboard 200 , 82nd on the Canadian Hot 100 and 71st in the UK. The song party , which was first published on June 28, 2011 and reached number 2 on the American hot R&B / hip-hop charts in July, also served as a promo download . Only after the track was released for various radio stations did it climb to number 50 on the Billboard 200. In addition, another clip was created for the song Dance for You , which is included on the deluxe edition of the album. The video - produced by Knowles and Alan Ferguson - is inspired by the black and white film genre of the 1940s and pays homage to Marlene Dietrich . The video premiere took place on November 25, 2011. Unlike 1 + 1 and Party , however, the song was not called Promo single released and only reached number 200 on the South Korean charts.

The album's third single, Countdown , was first played on October 4, 2011 by American radio stations. After regular publication, Countdown charted at number 85 on the Billboard 200 and rose to position 71 in the following weeks. In Great Britain, it was a success with number 35; in Germany the single was released on November 25th, but did not make it into the charts.

On December 7, 2011, the fourth single was released with Love on Top . Knowles presented the song on August 28, 2011 at the MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles , whereupon Love on Top et al. a. in Great Britain at number 75, where he later came to position 13, and in New Zealand at number 14 in the charts. In America the single reached number 20 on the Billboard 200 , as well as in Australia, where it was awarded platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association.

Single chart placements

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
year	Title album	DE	AT	CH	UK	US	R&B	Remarks
2011	Run the World (Girls) 4	-	-	CH22 (13 weeks) CH	UK11 (19 weeks) UK	US29 (13 weeks) US	R&B30 (14 weeks) R&B	First published: April 21, 2011 Sales: + 1,382,500
	Best Thing I Never Had 4	DE29 (14 weeks) DE	AT39 (12 weeks) AT	CH35 (18 weeks) CH	UK3 (27 weeks) UK	US16 (20 weeks) US	R&B4 (26 weeks) R&B	First published: June 1, 2011 Sales: + 1,757,500
	Party 4	-	-	-	-	US50 (18 weeks) US	R&B2 (46 weeks) R&B	First published: August 30, 2011 feat. André 3000
	Love on Top 4	-	-	-	UK13 (21 weeks) UK	US20 (20 weeks) US	R&B1 (57 weeks) R&B	First published: September 12, 2011 Sales: + 1,790,000
	Countdown 4	-	AT65 (1 week) AT	-	UK35 (10 weeks) UK	US71 (15 weeks) US	R&B12 (40 weeks) R&B	First published: October 4th, 2011 Sales: + 700,000
2012	End of Time 4	-	-	-	UK39 (8 weeks) UK	-	-	First published: April 23, 2012 Sales: + 200,000
The following songs did not appear as single, but were made available for download and streaming through the album and were thus able to achieve a placement:
2011	1 + 1 4	-	-	-	UK71 (4 weeks) UK	US57 (2 weeks) US	-	Chart entry: July 9, 2011
2011	I Was Here 4	-	-	CH74 (1 week) CH	-	-	-	Chart entry: July 10, 2011
2012	Dance for You 4	-	-	-	-	US78 (15 weeks) US	R&B7 (36 weeks) R&B	Chart entry: August 25, 2012

Track list

No.	title		length
1.	1 + 1		4:33
2.	I care		3:59
3.	I miss you		2:59
4th	Best Thing I Never Had		3:52
5.	party	(with André 3000 )	4:13
6th	Rather Die Young		3:42
7th	Start over		3:19
8th.	Love on top		4:27
9.	countdown		3:33
10.	End of Time		3:44
11.	I Was Here		3:59
12.	Run the World (Girls)		3:55

Bonus Tracks (Deluxe Edition)

No.	title		length
1.	Lay up under me		4:13
2.	Schoolin 'Life		4:52
3.	Dance for you	(with TI )	6:19
4th	Run the World (Girls) (Kaskade Club Remix)		5:03
5.	Run the World (Girls) (Redtop Club Remix)		6:03
6th	Run the World (Girls) (Jochen Simms Club Remix)		3:42

Bonus tracks (Japanese version)

No.	title		length
1.	Dreaming		4:38
2.	Party (remix)	(with Kanye West & J. Cole )	3:54

Charts

Charts	Top ranking	Weeks
Chart placements
Germany (GfK)	5 (12 weeks)	12
Austria (Ö3)	13 (10 weeks)	10
Switzerland (IFPI)	1 (19 weeks)	19th
United Kingdom (OCC)	1 (63 weeks)	63
United States (Billboard)	1 (78 weeks)	78

Sales figures and awards

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Australia (ARIA)	platinum	70,000
Brazil (PMB)	3 × platinum	120,000
Denmark (IFPI)	gold	10,000
France (SNEP)	gold	75,000
Ireland (IRMA)	platinum	15,000
Italy (FIMI)	gold	30,000
Canada (MC)	gold	40,000
Colombia (ASINCOL)	gold	5,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	gold	7,500
Poland (ZPAV)	platinum	20,000
Russia (NFPF)	gold	10,000
Sweden (IFPI)	gold	20,000
United States (RIAA)	platinum	1,500,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	2 × platinum	600,000
All in all	8 × gold 9 × platinum	2,522,500