Beyoncé has officially become the first Black woman to reach No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart with her new single, “Texas Hold ’Em.”
Billboard revealed Tuesday (February 20), that both the aforementioned track and Bey’s other new single “16 Carriages” made for her first two entries on the chart, with the latter debuting at No. 9.
Both songs were released in a surprise drop on February 11 after she announced them in a Verizon commercial during Super Bowl LVIII. She also announced the songs will live on her forthcoming album Renaissance: act ii, due out March 29.
The surprise drop confirmed what fans had been speculating that Beyoncé was hinting at a country release, though they were mostly piecing together crumbs.
They cited things like Bey’s country-inspired look at the 2024 Grammy Awards, as well a lyric on her 2019 single “Black Parade” where she sings, “I’m going back to the South, where my roots ain’t watered down” as potential proof that Act II would be a country LP.
One thing that had been confirmed in the past, however, is the original Renaissance album was meant to start a trilogy. In November, New York Times reporter Kyle Buchanan wrote in a since-deleted tweet that Act II would be an “acoustic album,” and that Act III would be a collaboration with JAY-Z. This was neither confirmed nor denied from Bey’s camp.
Days after the songs’ release, “Texas Hold Em” became Beyoncé’s first entry on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.
According to Billboard, the song debuted at “No. 54 with 1.1 million in audience via 100 stations at the format in the tracking week ending Feb. 15.”
The above numbers are based on a survey by Mediabase the takes into account around 150 country music stations across the United States.
“We immediately added it [in] a sub-power rotation, which is where we put top-trending new music,” KBAY San Jose program director Bo Matthews said about the hit. “I want people to hear it. One of the biggest artists in the world delivered a great country record for us to have fun with, and the song is really good.
“We are in the business of creating excitement for our listeners and I’m embracing the moment. Plus, there is plenty of room for great artists, even from other genres. It’s a big country tent.”
Lying signs and wonders. Smoke snd fucking mirrors!
Worst I’ve heard. Have several seats
Not to country music lovers
prefer she sang soul or even gospel she break that ice but please there are others who have been singing country for years on end they’re thunder taken away by beyonce just this one time please………..
Meh, well done but so what. It’s not about beyonce anymore.
Idc who it’s about, modern numbers are so rigged. Even old numbers, labels would buy their own CDs to reach certain milestones to gain more traction (lil wayne 2007). But nowadays, they literally have Chinese companies give them millions of streams and clicks to generate more traffic. Not saying her song isn’t very popular. It probably is, she’s a well known name.
Show your work because that sounds like BS.
@GemLord this isn’t the place to share links or sources to my claims. But anyone with a brain knows its true. Same way radio hits were paid for (not always, but more often than not). But people 100% use bots to drive fake traffic to make things appear more popular. Hell, I did that 10+ years ago for a youtube video. Worked easily and cost effective, and also lead to the video getting noticed, and in turn, receiving over 100k authentic views.
it’s not even a country song. Beyonce has a cowboy hat on singing with a drawl (probably not fake I give her that) and a bunch of acoustic guitar. Some kind of weird line dancing music. But I suppose actual country music fans like it. Beyonce is paying attention to them lol
Cultural appropriation at its finest but it’s okay when they do it. They call it branching out. They love bringing up race in a positive light but hate when you point out the crime statistics.
who the fuck is they? are you talking about your other brother Darryl?
Shouldn’t you be somewhere sleeping with your Mee Maw, Hee Haw?
Forever seeking White validation.
After that corny ass Jay Z speech, this feels like an obvious reach and plea to be accepted by the grammy committee. A blatent attempt at selling out at its finest.