Lemonade

Lemonade was released by surprise on 23 April 2016 as a visual album with a film of the same name, with guest vocals from Jack White, the Weeknd, James Blake and Kendrick Lamar. Its producers included Beyoncé, Diplo, Ezra Koenig, Jack White, Boots, Mike Dean, Just Blaze and Mike Will Made It. Formation was released first, on 6 February 2016.

It sold 653,000 copies in its first week in the United States, and all twelve tracks entered the Hot 100. In the United Kingdom it opened at number one. Pitchfork wrote that the run from Hold Up to 6 Inch "contains some of Beyoncé's strongest work". Rolling Stone named it the greatest album of the 21st century in January 2025, and the BBC reported it as critics' top album of 2016. At the 59th Grammys it won Best Urban Contemporary Album, and Formation won Best Music Video.