Surprise album

A surprise album or surprise release is an album or single with little or no prior announcement, marketing or promotion.^[1] The strategy contrasts traditional album releases, which typically feature weeks or months of advertising in the form of singles, music videos, tour announcements and album pre-sales. Often, the release of a surprise album is the formal announcement of its release. This strategy developed in part due to the prevalence of album leaks on the Internet during the 2000s and became popular by the mid-2010s among high-profile recording acts.