“Five years, What a surprise”
On January 8, 2013 (Bowie’s 66th birthday), suddenly and without fanfare, David Bowie released a new single, Where Are We Now? On the same day it was announced that the song would also be on a new album titled The Next Day.
On February 28, 2013, the 14-track standard edition of the album was made available to stream as a worldwide exclusive in the iTunes Store, more than a week before the first physical version was available to buy on March 8th, five years ago today.
Here are the original release dates...
March 8th: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland.
March 11th: Asia, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Latin America, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, South Africa, UK.
March 12th: Brazil, Canada, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Spain, Taiwan, USA.
March 13th: Japan (with exclusive 4th bonus track).
March 15th: Turkey
The Next Day was released in three basic formats: Audio CD Standard Edition (14-tracks); Audio CD Deluxe Edition (17-tracks); 17-track Double Vinyl LP (with free Deluxe Edition CD)
Despite a complete lack of conventional promotion (not a single interview or live performance promoted the release), Bowie's 27th studio album and first in 10 years hit #1 in the UK and 18 other countries and entered the U.S. chart at a career high #2, only topped by ★ (Blackstar) which gave Bowie his first US #1 album, albeit posthumously.
In November 2013, The Next Day Extra deluxe edition was issued. Read all about the various editions and chart placings, etc., in this exhaustive Wikipedia entry: http://smarturl.it/TNDwiki
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