Beyoncé's new stealth-released self-titled record may be the fastest selling album ever worldwide on iTunes, but Target is having no part of it.
Target said it will not carry the album, which dropped exclusively on iTunes Friday without any pre-release announcement or advertising.
While the superstar had worked with the company in the past to provide exclusive editions of her albums (she even starred in a commercial for the store), a spokesperson for the retailer told Billboard that the company does not like to sell albums that are released digitally first.
"At Target we focus on offering our guests a wide assortment of physical CDs, and when a new album is available digitally before it is available physically, it impacts demand and sales projections," spokesperson Erica Julkowski told the publication.
"We are primarily focused on offering CDs that will be available in a physical format at the same time as all other formats," she continued. "At this time, Target will not be carrying Beyoncé's new self-titled album."
Billboard noted that most other physical retailers will have the album in stock by Dec. 20.
Fans of Beyoncé seemed surprised by Target's action, and poked a bit of fun at the retailer.
"Beyoncé," the singer's fifth solo studio album, racked up 828,773 sales (617,213 in the US) in just three days, according to Apple. It easily beat the previous one-week iTunes record set by Taylor Swift's album, "Red," which racked up 465,000 sales in the week ending Oct. 28, 2012, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The publication noted that the music industry tracks weekly sales on a Monday through Sunday basis. That means "Red" had a full week's worth of sales to set the record, while "Beyoncé" topped it with just three days of sales.