Beyoncé becomes first black woman to top US country music chart with Texas Hold'Em
Beyoncé has made music history as the first black woman to top the Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart after her track Texas Hold ‘Em debuted at number one.
This marks the 32-time Grammy winner’s latest foray into the genre, whose relationship to Black artists has often proved controversial.
Texas Hold’Em was released simultaneously with the single 16 Carriages in a surprise album announcement during the Super Bowl on February 11.
The feat also made her the second solo female artist to have a song go straight in at number one.
Taylor Swift was the first in 2021 with her re-recordings of Love Story and All Too Well.
Additionally, Beyonce is now the first woman to reach number one on both the Hot Country Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs since the lists began in 1958.
It’s a promising indicator as she prepares to release an entire country album, titled Act II, on March 29 as a follow-up to her 2022 Renaissance LP.
According to Billboard, Texas Hold ‘Em received “19.2 million official streams and 4.8 million in all-format airplay audience and sold 39,000 in the US through February 15.”
Meanwhile, the outlet added that 16 Carriages drew “10.3 million streams, 90,000 in radio reach and 14,000 sold.”
Beyoncé’s latest accomplishment comes after her fans forced a country music radio station to play Texas Hold 'Em after they initially refused.
Last week, a user on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, said that the Ada, Oklahoma-based country music station KYKC had declined their request to play Texas Hold’Em.
“I requested Texas Hold ‘Em at my local country radio station (KYKC) and after requesting, I received an email from the radio station stating ‘We do not play Beyoncé on KYKC as we are a country music station,' the social media user said, along with a screenshot of the reply they received from the radio station.
“This station needs to be held accountable for their blatant racism and discrimination against Beyoncé.” A representative for the station told US news outlet TMZ last Tuesday that the reason they had not played Beyoncé’s new songs is that they had not been provided with them. Another local station, KECO, also told the outlet that it had not been sent copies of the songs.
The station KYKC did ultimately receive copies of the tracks, and began playing Texas Hold 'Em Tuesday.
Tweeting a screenshot of its playlist at the time, it acknowledged that the single was now in its rotation, writing: “Lots of call coming in for Beyoncé’s Texas Hold ‘Em. It’s coming up in minutes.”