Cowboy Carter Is Breaking Billboard Records, Y’all

Cowboy Carter has bounced to the top of the Billboard Top Country Albums chart (no hands), making Beyoncé the first Black woman to pull off the feat. Lead single “Texas Hold ‘Em” made her the first Black woman to top the Hot Country Songs chart, and the second woman to debut at No. 1 (after Taylor Swift). The album also tops the Billboard 200, with 407,000 units sold/streamed. Cowboy Carter is Beyoncé’s eighth No. 1 album. And we still don’t know what it has done to the cowboy boot-selling chart yet. Is that a thing? It should be.

Once again, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé are twinning the charts. Cowboy Carter is the biggest week for a country album since Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) in July 2023. Cowboy Carter has surpassed 1989 (Taylor’s Version) for the biggest debut of 2024 thus far. And all this without visuals!

Beyoncé has broken another record with her eighth studio album, “Cowboy Carter,” becoming the first Black woman to debut at No. 1 on Billboard’s top country albums chart.

The superstar also reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, with 407,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. the week ending April 4. It’s Beyoncé’s eighth No. 1 on the chart, which encompasses all genres.

“Cowboy Carter” also reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Americana/folk albums and top album sales charts.

The “Ya Ya” singer released the acclaimed album on March 29 and instantly took the internet by storm, with “Cowboy Carter” becoming Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day in 2024.

Beyoncé announced the album and released her first two singles, “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages,” in a surprise Super Bowl commercial in February. Within weeks, she made history as the first Black woman to top Billboard’s hot country songs chart with “Texas Hold ‘Em.”

Prior to releasing “Cowboy Carter,” Beyoncé opened up about her creating the album in a lengthy Instagram post.

She wrote that the album had been more than five years in the making: “It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed … and it was very clear that I wasn’t. But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive.”

“It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world, while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives educating on our musical history,” she wrote. “The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me. Act ii is a result of challenging myself and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work.”