Beyonce and ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ Debut on Billboard Country Airplay Chart

Beyonce and her The latest single, “Texas Hold ‘Em,” made its country chart debut on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. the publication announced on Friday. The song marks Beyoncé’s debut on that chart after more than two decades of career. The Country Airplay chart represents radio play exclusively.

As soon as Beyoncé released the country-influenced “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” on Super Bowl Sunday, a major question arose about how the country music industry would embrace these tracks, particularly given the genre’s own history of ignoring to black artists in the past, and that Beyoncé is not a lifelong country artist. Streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music quickly put “Texas Hold ‘Em” at the top of their country playlists, though it was less clear how country radio’s old guard would respond.

Beyoncé’s label, Columbia Records, officially promoted “Texas Hold ‘Em” to country radio earlier this week, and the song opens on the Airplay chart at No. 54 with around 1.1 million impressions, Billboard reported. .

As Rolling Stone reported this week, Queen Bey The country’s turn is not so unexpected. While she is primarily known as a pop and R&B icon, she has also had a notable country influence, most prominently displayed on her 2016 album. Lemonade track “Dad’s Lessons”. Meanwhile, the stars of Nashville They have been covering Beyoncé songs for the last 10 years.

With Beyoncé on the radio charts for a few days, the question now is how “Texas Hold ‘Em” will perform on the charts next week. And then, of course, there are the other charts that also take into account streams and sales along with radio airplay, including the Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs charts. Fans easily compared Bey’s situation to Lil Nas X and “Old Town Road” in 2019, when Billboard removed the song from the Hot Country Songs chart. Where the song lands will become clear when the Billboard charts are updated next Tuesday. If Beyoncé tops the Hot Country Songs chart, she would become the first black artist with a country number one.

Four different versions of the song currently occupy the top five on the iTunes chart as fans push for the song to earn the Number One distinction. At the time of its release, “Texas Hold ‘Em” is also the number two song on the top charts of Apple Music and Spotify in the US, behind only “Carnival” by Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign.