Beyoncé has made history as the first African American woman to reach No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart with her song “Texas Hold ‘Em.”
When the weekly chart rankings were updated on Tuesday, the track achieved a significant milestone in a genre that has frequently been a source of controversy for Black artists.
Beyoncé’s first time reaching the top of the country charts was with her surprise album announcement during the Super Bowl, which included the release of her single “16 Carriages” and her simultaneous release of “Texas Hold ‘Em”.
She is now the second solo female artist to debut at No 1 without any featured artists, following in the footsteps of Taylor Swift who accomplished this in 2021 with her re-recordings of Love Story and All Too Well.
Beyoncé has achieved the notable feat of being the first female artist to reach the top spot on both the Hot Country Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts since their inception in 1958. The only other musicians to accomplish this are Justin Bieber, Billy Ray Cyrus, Ray Charles, and Morgan Wallen.
The Hot Country Songs chart is a composite chart that takes into account US sales, streams, and radio airplay, similar to Billboard’s main Hot 100 chart.
The charts for Tuesday displayed data from the seven days prior to February 15th. This indicates that Texas Hold ‘Em, which was released on February 11th, reached its slot position in only four days of tracking.
During that period, the song was streamed 19.2 million times and downloaded 39,000 times in the United States, according to Luminate, a company that tracks entertainment data. It entered the Hot 100 chart at No. 2, while another new track by the famous artist, “16 Carriages,” debuted at No. 38 on the Hot 100 and No. 9 on Hot Country Songs.
Both tracks will be featured on Beyoncé’s second installment of her Renaissance trilogy, scheduled for release on March 29th.
The accolades on the country music chart follow a recent controversy over the classification of Texas Hold ‘Em as a country song.
A radio station in Oklahoma originally refused to play a listener’s request for Beyoncé’s latest song. However, they eventually changed their stance after a popular online campaign on X, previously known as Twitter.
According to Billboard, the station stated that they had not yet received the file for Beyoncé’s track from her label at the time of the request. They have now officially added Texas Hold ‘Em to their country radio promotion.
Beyoncé’s song has made its debut on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart at No. 54, marking her first appearance on the chart. Unlike Hot Country Songs, which takes into account various factors, Country Airplay solely measures radio airplay.
There has been much discussion surrounding the connection between country music and Black musicians. A notable incident in 2019 involved rapper Lil Nas X’s popular country-trap crossover hit, Old Town Road, being taken off of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart despite its success.
The creators of the chart argued that it did not have enough of a country feel, even though it included banjo music and lyrics about horseback riding.
According to Billboard, although Old Town Road includes country and cowboy references, it lacks enough modern country music elements to be successful on the charts in its current form.
Beyoncé’s song “Daddy Lessons” was not approved by the Recording Academy’s country music committee in 2016, resulting in it being disqualified for consideration at the country Grammys.
Later on, she surprised audiences by performing the song with the Dixie Chicks at the Country Music Association awards. This sparked further discussion about the political beliefs and unclear categorizations present in country music.
Source: theguardian.com
