Queen B Reigns: Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ is First No. 1 Country Album by a Black Woman

April 9, 2024 LA Data News Data Zone, Entertainment 0

Pilar Schenck Data News Weekly Contributor

Queen B continues her reign as an artist that knows no limits. Over the years she’s experimented with different genres achieving major success. Recently, Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” debuted on top of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It also debuted at the top of the country charts, making history.

After winning over 30 Grammy’s, her latest effort, which is a foray into the country music genre, released March 29th, is the first album by a Black woman to reach No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums Chart, according to Rolling Stone.

In its first week selling 407,000 equivalent album units, that’s her biggest sales week since her impactful 2016 release “Lemonade” — “Cowboy Carter” is also significant because it represents the best sales week for a country album since Taylor Swift’s “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version),” which dropped last July.

The former Destiny’s Child frontwoman claimed ahead of the album’s release that it wasn’t a “country album” but rather a “Beyoncé album.” Still, she tapped country music trailblazers Linda Martell, Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson for contributions, alongside pop sensations Miley Cyrus and Post Malone and lesser-known Black country artists such as Willie Jones, Tanner Addell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts and Shaboozey.

Amid controversy about airplay on country music radio stations, the album’s lead single, “Texas Hold ‘Em,” also made history on the Hot Country Songs Chart. Additionally, Beyonce’, who has throughout her career incorporated the sound of New Orleans music released a New Orleans bounce-infused remix of her recent hit “Texas Hold Em” that is packing dancefloors across the globe.

“I feel honored to be the first Black woman with the number one single on the Hot Country Songs Chart,” she wrote in a statement on March 19th.

Beyonce’s recent success exploring country music and speaking of its Black roots, is starting conversations about the genre and opening doors for Black artists in the genre.