Album release: The Next Day

The Next Day, David Bowie’s 24th and penultimate studio album, was released on 8 March 2013, a full decade after his previous album Reality.

The single ‘Where Are We Now?’ was released without promotion or publicity at 5am GMT on the morning of 8 January 2013, Bowie’s 66th birthday.

The singer had been mostly out of the public eye since the end of A Reality Tour in 2004, and had not released any new music since the previous year’s Reality. There had been rumours of ill-health and retirement, and expectations of new music were low.

The video for ‘Where Are We Now?’ went live on Bowie’s YouTube and VEVO channels, followed by news of the forthcoming album The Next Day. The single topped the iTunes download chart by 3pm on its day of release.

The Next Day was released on 8 March 2013 in Australia, Germany and Ireland. In the UK it came out on 11 March, and the following day in the USA.

In Japan the album was issued on 13 March with the bonus track ‘God Bless The Girl’.

A deluxe CD edition was issued at the same time as the standard release. This contained the additional songs ‘So She’, ‘Plan’, ‘I’ll Take You There’, and ‘God Bless The Girl’.

The vinyl edition was a double-disc set. It was initially announced for release on 25 March 2013, but was delayed to 1 April. The vinyl edition contained the additional songs ‘So She’, ‘Plan’ and ‘I’ll Take You There’, as well as a CD copy of the album.