Go ahead and add another record to Beyoncé’s laundry list of accolades, as “Texas Hold ‘Em” has debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, making her the first Black woman to do so.
The song dethroned Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves’ “I Remember Everything,” which had towered over the chart for 20 weeks. As confirmed by Billboard, the artist’s other new country-tinged single, “16 Carriages,” wasn’t far behind at No. 9.
Both tracks boasted impressive streaming and sales numbers in the week following their surprise release midway through the Super Bowl. Billboard reports that “Texas Hold ‘Em” nabbed a cool 19.2 million streams and 39,000 traditional sales, while “16 Carriages” commanded 10.3 million streams and 14,000 sales. Beyoncé’s previous dip into country stylings, “Daddy Lessons,” also saw a spike in attention, with that tune’s streaming numbers increasing by a factor of 370%.
The historic success has helped reignite arguments surrounding country music’s gatekeepers and systemic inequalities. Valid questions linger regarding the genre’s largely white and male charts, especially with the genre’s deep roots in Black America.
Despite their dominance, even Beyoncé’s new songs faced pushback from certain corners of country music, as select radio stations across the United States refused to play them. “We do not play Beyoncé at KYKC as we are a country music station,” an Oklahoma station stated in response to a fan requesting “Texas Hold ‘Em.”
Such resistance echoes a controversy Billboard itself faced back in 2019, when the outlet decided to strike Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” from the country charts. Fortunately, they avoided making the same mistake this time around.
Beyoncé’s history-making success follows that of Tracy Chapman, who became the first Black woman to solely write a No. 1 country song thanks to Luke Combs’ cover of “Fast Car.” These feats show signs that longstanding issues embedded in the Nashville system are potentially improving, albeit quite slowly.
“Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” arrived alongside an announcement for Beyoncé’s upcoming album, Act II. Out March 29th, Act II serves as the second chapter in a promised trilogy that kicked off with 2022’s Renaissance and, as one might have guessed, will feature a sonic embrace of country music.