Beyoncé Earns Eighth No. 1 Album With Cowboy Carter

Beyoncé, photo by Mason Poole

Beyoncé has topped the Billboard charts once again. Cowboy Carter debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, marking the biggest sales for an album so far in 2024, and No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart, making Beyoncé the first Black woman ever to debut at the summit, reports Billboard. This is the eighth time Beyoncé’s had a solo album reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

Cowboy Carter debuted with 407,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending April 4, according to Luminate. Of that number, 232,000 units are from streaming (which Billboard notes was Beyoncé’s biggest streaming week ever), 168,000 are traditional album sales, and 7,000 are track equivalent albums. All of those helped Cowboy Carter scoop up the best sales week for a country album since last July, when Taylor Swift’s Speak Now landed at the top with 716,000 copies.

After teasing the album as Act II with a Verizon commercial during the Super Bowl LVIII broadcast, Beyoncé shared just two songs from Cowboy Carter: “Texas Hold ’Em” and “16 Carriages.” Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, and Linda Martell make guest appearances on the album, while Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, and Tanner Adell all sing on tracks. Beyoncé recently shared the full list of credits for Cowboy Carter, which notes additional collaborations with Pharrell Williams, Jon Batiste, Nile Rodgers, Raphael Saadiq, Jay-Z, The-Dream, and Ryan Tedder.

Beyoncé covers the Beatles’ “Blackbird” and Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” on Cowboy Carter. Paul McCartney praised her cover of his 1968 ballad, saying, “I am so happy with Beyoncé’s version of my song ‘Blackbird’. I think she does a magnificent version of it and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place.”

Renaissance, the seventh studio album by Beyoncé, came out in July 2022. It was originally billed as Act I: Renaissance, implying future releases would follow suit. While the album never got traditional music videos, there was a “cliquebait” clip for “Break My Soul,” a “brand campaign anthem film” for Tiffany & Co. featuring “Summer Renaissance,” and a concert film that played in theaters worldwide. Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé was the No. 1 movie in the United States during its debut weekend and, as of January 11, raised over $44.4 million worldwide.

Last year, Beyoncé broke the record for the most Grammys won by an artist in the award show’s history after taking home four trophies that night. “Break My Soul” was nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Dance/Electronic Recording at the 2023 Grammy Awards, but Beyoncé won only the latter, causing some controversy. On the Cowboy Carter track “Sweet ★ Honey ★ Buckiin,’” she references her storied history with the Grammy Awards, singing, “A-O-T-Y, I ain’t win/I ain’t stuntin’ ’bout them/Take that shit on the chin.”

The follow-up to *Renaissance* is a powerful and ambitious country album cast in the singular mold of Beyoncé. She asserts her rightful place in the genre as only a pop star of her incredible talent and influence can do.

Originally Appeared on Pitchfork