Beyoncé becomes first black woman to top Billboard’s country music chart

“The amount of airplay it got in its first week is quite surprising and unprecedented,” said Jada Watson, an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa who studies radio airplay and the charts. Only six black female soloists had previously reached the country charts since the late 1950s, along with the group Pointer Sisters. Watson said the highest-ranking black woman on the chart before Beyoncé was Linda Martell, who reached No. 22 with “Color Him Father” in 1969.

Beyoncé is also the first woman to top Billboard’s country and R&B/hip-hop charts since records began in 1958, Billboard reported.

Fans were quick to praise his embrace of country music, with one writing on social media: “Bey says country, let’s go to the country!” As The Washington Post previously noted, while this isn’t the first time the Houston native has paid homage to her country’s roots in her performances and appearances, the new music highlighted the barriers black artists have frequently faced in that genre. .

Beyoncé’s new country songs salute the genre’s black cultural roots

With the “Texas Hold ‘Em” fever, many fans have adopted the fashion trend called “cowboycore,” wearing various types of cowboy hats and boots (metallic silver, snake print, and some with tassel decorations) while sharing videos of them dancing. to the blow song. Beyoncé herself has been photographed wearing cowboy hats in public appearances and promotional material in recent weeks.

Beyoncé’s two new country songs are part of her long-awaited album, which will be released on March 29. Fans saw the songs, and the genre change, as a sign of her body of work, called “Act II” for now. , will be a full-length country album.

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Although many have been supportive of Beyoncé’s new songs and her transition to country, the move did not come without new scrutiny for the star, whose first country song, “Daddy Lessons” (2016), exposed deep divisions in the music industry. country.

Some country music fans argued that the song did not belong in the genre and was blocked from the country music categories at the Grammys.

Do you think Beyoncé ‘doesn’t belong at the CMAs’? So you don’t know the country.

Black people have largely been excluded from country music, even though the art form has its roots in black history.

In 2019, rapper Lil Nas X’s country-inspired rap song “Old Town Road” was removed from Billboard’s Hot Country Songs. While many considered it the song of the summer, the gatekeepers of country music were confused and outraged.

“While ‘Old Town Road’ incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery, it does not encompass enough elements of current country music to chart in its current version,” Billboard wrote at the time, noting that its decision to remove the country song The chart “had absolutely nothing to do with the race of the artist.”

“I think it’s telling that it’s 2024 and we’re getting the first No. 1 country song by a black woman,” Watson said. She noted that Beyoncé “has a massive audience, a massive level of support that (other) black female artists haven’t been able to generate in the same way because the industry hasn’t supported them.”

“The next important step is for Beyoncé to not become a fad,” he said. “Let the industry take this as an opportunity to build for black women in this format.”

Janay Kingsberry, Praveena Somasundaram and Avi Selk contributed to this report.