Once I started doing research on leaked albums, I found out where were many more than I realized:
Bruce Springsteen’s “Tracks”
The Boss doesn’t mess around with his music. Recorded in 1998, but not released for several more years, Bruce took a bootlegger to court over leaked material from this album.
Jay Z’s “Vol. 3…Life and Times of S. Carter”
You just thought the Boss was tough on piracy – wait until you hear what Jay-Z did to a record executive he thought leaked his fourth album. He stabbed him in the stomach! Jay-Z received three years probation for the incident.
Wilco’s “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”
The executives at Reprise listened to “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” in 2001 but did not feel it had a hit on it. However, once the album leaked to online piracy services, everyone declared it a stunning success. I guess as a way to get back at Reprise, Wilco made the entire album available for free on their website. In 2002, the released it, but this time with Nonesuch rather than Reprise.
U2’s “How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb”
Music from this album showed up on the Internet before the 2004 release date, causing Interscope to do something many labels with leaked music are forced to so – make the songs immediately available on the radio. U2 is no stranger to piracy either – demos of “Achtung Baby” were leaked when the band left recordings behind in a hotel room.
Eminem’s “Encore”
Interscope had a mess on their hands in 2004 – in addition to U2’s “How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb” being leaked, so was Eminem’s “Encore.” They rushed the release of the album and it must have worked – the album ended up selling over 700,000 in its first three days.
Gnarls Barkley’s “The Odd Couple”
The duo saw their 2008 sophomore album, “The Odd Couple,” leaked, forcing them to push up the release date from April 8 to March 18 for iTunes release and March 25 for hard copy releases.