Well, it’s official: Cowboy Carter has debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. It’s the best Billboard debut of the year so far and Beyonce’s eighth number one album. Queen B has also become the first Black woman to have a number one album on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. Meanwhile, Spotify has already said that it’s the “most-streamed album in a single day in 2024 so far,” too. That sound you’re hearing right now? That’s the sound of John Schenider and all of the racist country music fans crying into their Coors Lights.
“Cowboy Carter,” which dropped on March 29, debuted with 407,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending April 4, according to Billboard and music industry data provider Luminate.
It is the best debut of 2024 so far and also the biggest since Taylor Swift dropped “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” in November 2023, Billboard said.
“Cowboy Carter” is a rowdy, wide-ranging homage to Beyonce’s southern heritage and features a constellation of music stars, from country legends Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson to current hitmakers Miley Cyrus and Post Malone.
Parton introduces the album’s take on “Jolene,” drawing parallels between her own original tale of a lover fearing betrayal with Beyonce’s personalized version, and appears with Nelson as radio hosts of a fictional broadcast.
The album, which has been lauded by critics, was already the “most-streamed album in a single day in 2024 so far” on Spotify.
Nashville’s gatekeepers have long tried to promote a rigid view of country music that is overwhelmingly white and male. But Beyonce shatters that notion, taking listeners through country’s evolution from African American spirituals and fiddle tunes.
She dropped the album’s first two singles, “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” during the Super Bowl in February and announced the full album’s release date.
She also Paul McCartney’s Beatles song “Blackbiird,” stylized with the double-i spelling to match “Act II.”
“I think she does a magnificent version of it and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place,” McCartney said in a statement when the album debuted.
Beyonce previously topped the Billboard charts with “Dangerously in Love” (2003), “B’Day” (2006), “I Am… Sasha Fierce” (2008), “4” (2011), “Beyonce” (2013), “Lemonade” (2016) and “Renaissance” (2022).
The only women with more number ones are Swift, Barbra Streisand and Madonna, according to Billboard.
This is, of course, really awesome and very well-deserved. Cowboy Carter is a great album. It better finally win Beyonce her long overdue Grammy for Album of the Year. Like most people, my favorite song is “II Most Wanted.” I’ve always liked Miley’s voice and they really do sound so gorgeous together. I do have one slight problem, though. I keep mis-singing the lyrics as “I’ll be your backseat driver…” I did it once as a joke and then the joke was on me because now I can’t get it out of my head. I also think “YA YA” is really fun and get chills whenever I hear “Ameriican Requiem.” Love that she included those four female country music artists on “Blackbiird” and am surprisingly neutral on the updated “Jolene,” considering how much I love the original.
Anyway, first we had Luke Combs’ cover of “Fast Car” making Tracy Chapman the first Black woman to have a #1 song on the country music charts and to win a Country Music Award for Song of the Year. Now, we have Beyonce becoming the first Black woman to have a top country music album. We know Beyonce made a country album because she felt unwelcome at the CMAs in 2016. Talk about FAFO. I really hope this opens a door for new country music listeners to flood the market, giving a proper fanbase to more Black country artists and propelling them upward. That would be the perfect ending.
photos via B4859 / Avalon and Instagram
The sumptuous layers of her work here…this is joy. I am so happy for her. What an amazing achievement.
John Schneider…there’s a tear in my beer
She also has black country stars as guest vocalists which is awesome.
That’s amazing 🙂
Well deserved.
One of the things I love about this album is that it really is complex. I feel like every time I listen to it I find a new favorite song or there’s a lyric I missed etc. It’s definitely not a “one and done” listen where you can say “I listened, my favorite song is X and that’s it.” I can’t remember the last time I listened to a new album release multiple times within a few days/weeks of its release.
I’ve never been a part of the Beyhive (I liked Beyonce, just not a diehard fan, you know?) but this album may have pulled me into it, lol. I’m already excited thinking about what she will do next.
Agree with all of this!
Im a destiny’s child fan and more of the first beyonce songs fan, but texas hold em and the whole idea of the album makes me want her to win it all, for all of us. Beyonce winning anything for this is us winning too. Fck em
I keep getting in phases of listening to different songs from the album. Right now it’s YA Ya and Sweet Honey Buckin. I’m literally laughing as she says look at that horse look at that horse. Fine as hell au natural.
On Jolene, I’m not à have to like one better type. I’m glad both exist. I still dislike talking between songs, though. Cursed was the day when that became the sign of a prestige project.
Like a lot of people, my fav song is changing from day to day. Now, I am obsessed with Flamenco, unfortunately it is one of the short songs. I have read that Beyonce was working on this album for 5 years and it really shows. It is remarkable how after all these years, she is releasing music which some can say her best work. I am sure, the chart success is important to her business, but this album like Lemonade is more than that. It will be remembered and referenced as her music legacy.
She’s hit the point in her music that the Beatles hit when they really started experimenting and exploring, allowing themselves to take risks and do whatever the hell they wanted because they had the cache. It’s rare for a pop star to last this long and get to the place where all their experience suddenly transforms into these multilayer albums which have complex lyrics AND a complex soundscape. I can’t think of many who’ve reached this juncture of their career while being so immensely popular. The nature of the industry is so ephemeral yet incredibly demanding—pop stars fizzle and the older ones burn out. But Beyonce’s lasted.
@Fifty-50, I totally agree. It is so rewarding watching an artist creating what they want and not focusing on charts, but still being successful. And doing all that as a black woman. I think, being one of the best live performers of our generation helped her staying power immensely. Also, I noticed after she fired her father, she stopped paying attention to the reviews, critics, charts, etc., which made her work even better.
I am really loving this album and that she’s #1. It irks the shiz out of me that people are so dismissive of this album and what she accomplished. I’m so glad she challenged us as a listener.
This album TELLS. A. STORY. PERIODT. I am not a member of the Hive by any means, but this album is excellent. She really went deep on her influences and creativity.
If the rumours are true and Act III is gonna be more rock/blues then I will lose my mind and have to apply for membership of the Hive.
Come thru, Beyhive! LOL I’m enjoying the tears from the salty conservatives.
I’ve always been pretty neutral on Beyonce. I like her well enough but not a “fan”. I listened to the ablum a few times this weekend and enjoyed it. It didn’t come off as “country” to me at all but good none the less. And I appreciate anything that might ruffle the feathers in Nashville.
This is OG country before it got whitewashed by angry men and tradwives.
Someone said this is how the country would sound like if it wasn’t taken over by white people and the black people were still allowed to contribute to the sound freely. I remember that a black country songwriter said in an interview that he is now using alias because he gets a lot of racist hate whenever he gets credited on country songs. The racist people cancelled black people from the country scene for years now. That’s why most people don’t like country music and that’s why this album is so important for the future of the genre.
I’ve been obsessed with this album since it debuted. I listen to it multiple times a day and I really think it has entered my list of Forever Albums. This is the first Beyonce album I’ve purchased, too, not streamed only.
My favourites so far are: Alligator Tears, Daughter, Spaghettii, Levii’s jeans and 16 carriages.
Shoutout to YA YA and Protector!!!
As someone who grew up listening to OG country and stopped listening to this genre decades ago (around the 00s) I’m now excited again. I can’t with republican country and their beers and trucks and mean women making them cry while they shit over everyone.
oh man Levii’s Jeans is so good. I saw that song title and thought, what is this, a song about Levi’s, oh lordy….and then I loved it. SORRY FOR DOUBTING YOU BEYONCE.
IT’S SUCH A SEXY SONG OMG
I’ll never doubt anything else in my life
I did the same! But it’s so sweet and cute and flirty. I love it. It sounds especially great after the incredible emotion in II most wanted. Suchhhh a good album.
I’m thrilled that Beyoncé is doing so well. Ive always loved her. This album doesn’t read country to me, but that doesn’t take away from its excellence. Country had lots of starts from bluegrass to gospel to blues. I’m lean more toward the bluegrass roots. But everything doesn’t have to fit in a genre.
The Linda Martell features speak explicitly to the genre expanding/ crossing aspects of the album.
I haven’t loved a song as immediately as I loved “II Most Wanted” since Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.”
(Like most people, I have to listen to songs a few times before they capture me.)
It’s such a great album. Loved it form the start but I keep finding more to love about it with every listen. Truly happy for Beyoncé and the haters can FRO.
What an artistic journey and how hard Beyonce must have worked to make this. Previously I didn’t know that the song Blackbird had its origin in the Arkansas desegregation movement, symbolically it was a perfect choice for this album.
I love this so much,
I’m not a fan of country music.
I’m not a fan of Beyonce’s music.
I have no opinion of her as a person.
BUT
The way the angry white men and tradwives are just BAWLING! The way that a single album from her has made MAGA cry all the white tears….
Even without listening to the album there’s something for every one in the audience!
Good for you Bey. Keep on,
This is delicious to watch.
I love the album because it’s legit artistry in motion. The creativity of each song and each line is stellar and top-tier. When Beyonce says she’s 1 of 1, like this is it, this explains what she means. I have a different favorite song every other day. Songs that get stuck in your head are filled with allusions, double meanings, and alliterations. The album passes through different country phases: country/rock, then country 60s/70s pop twang, and glide into the last half, which is a blend of 70s funk/R&B/country. It’s brilliant all the way around.
I haven’t had a chance to listen to the whole album yet. I just wanted to say I love her version of Jolene. I love the strength and steely coolness.
Lol though my daughter and I have often said about Dolly’s original that if Jolene were that gorgeous why not dump the weak weaselly man and run off with Jolene herself! Now THAT is the version we are waiting for!
I love this album so much, every song is my favourite.
I also love the joy and creativity it inspires in people. I love watching all the dances everyone comes up with.