Beyoncé Lands at No. 1 With ‘Cowboy Carter’ Album Debut

Kimberly Nordyke
·2 min read
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Beyoncé has landed another No. 1 album with Cowboy Carter.

Her country music album bowed at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, according to Billboard and Luminate. Cowboy Carter, which dropped March 29, debuted with 407,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States for the week ending April 4.

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This marks Beyoncé’s eighth No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200. It also marks the biggest week for an album so far in 2024, and the biggest since Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version), which debuted with 1.653 million units in November.

It’s also Beyoncé’s biggest week since Lemonade debuted at No. 1 with 653,000 units in May 2016.

In addition, the album debuted atop several other Billboard charts, including Top Country Albums, Americana/Folk Albums and Top Album Sales.

Beyoncé boasts another record, becoming the first Black woman ever to top the Top Country Albums list, which was created in 1964. Cowboy Carter also notched the biggest week for a country album since July 2023, when Swift’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), debuted at No. 1 with 716,000 units.

Beyoncé dropped the 27-track album March 29, but she already had made history in February with the release of single “Texas Hold ‘Em,” which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart. That made her the first Black woman to accomplish such a feat, according to Billboard.

Another single, “16 Carriages,” climbed to No. 9 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

Cowboy Carter features several collaborators, including Jon Batiste, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Linda Martell, Stevie Wonder, Chuck Berry, Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Rhiannon Giddens, Nile Rodgers, Robert Randolph, Gary Clark Jr., Willie Jones, Brittney Spencer, Shaboozey, Reyna Roberts, Tanner Adell and Tiera Kennedy.

“I think people are going to be surprised because I don’t think this music is what everyone expects,” Beyoncé said in a statement pegged to the album’s release. “But it’s the best music I’ve ever made.”

In addition to Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé has topped the Billboard 200 albums chart seven other times, with Dangerously in Love (2003), B’Day (2006), I Am…Sasha Fierce (2008), 4 (2011), Beyoncé (2013), Lemonade (2016) and Renaissance (2022).

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