https://www.essence.com/entertainment/beyonce-cowboy-carter-breaks-streaming-record/

By Rivea Ruff ·Updated April 1, 2024

Only one weekend into her COWBOY CARTER era, Beyoncé has broken ground and multiple records on the charts.

Music streaming giant Spotify announced on Friday that the album had officially crossed the threshold as the most-streamed album of 2024 thus far, mere hours into its release. The album also smashed records for Amazon Music streaming, breaking ground as the most-first-day-streamed Country album from a female artist in the DSP’s streaming history, via Billboard.

This comes on top of the accolades its lead single, “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM,” garnered even before the full album release, landing on the charts across nine genres and propelling Beyoncé to become the first Black female artist to reach the top slot on the Hot Country Songs chart. She also now holds the position of first Black woman to land a number onw on the Hot 100 Chart with a Country song.

Beyoncé has leaned fully into her new role as the reigning queen of Country, recently posing for W Magazine‘s first-ever digital cover in a western-themed shoot reminiscent of her 2011 ESSENCE Magazine cover where she first planted her aesthetic seeds in Country soil.

Photo: Pamela Hanson

“I feel honored to be the first Black woman with the number one single on the Hot Country Songs chart,” the songstress wrote to fans ahead of her album’s release. “That would not have happened without the outpouring of support from each and every one of you. My hope is that years from now, the mention of an artist’s race, as it relates to releasing genres of music, will be irrelevant.”

It seems Bey’s hopes are already coming to fruition, as there has been an exponential uptick in streaming for the Black Country artists she featured on her project, via The Hollywood Reporter. Spotify reports that songstress Tiera Kennedy experienced a 40,000 percent increase in catalog listens and 110% uptick in first-time streams. Similarly, both social media Country darling Tanner Adell’s and Nashville crooner Reyna Roberts’ first-time streams each have shot up 125%.

Brittney Spencer‘s first-time spins shot up 170%, with her overall streams increasing by 37,220 percent. Interest in Willie Jones and Shaboozey spiked with 75% and 70% in first-time streams, respectively.

With the songstress having taken over five years to carefully craft her Country masterpiece, Beyoncé’s process has shaped the cultural zeitgeist over the past three years. “I recorded probably 100 songs,” Beyoncé said in a statement. “It’s been really great to have the time and the grace to be able to take my time with it.”

Photo: Pamela Hanson.

“I was initially going to put COWBOY CARTER out first, but with the pandemic, there was too much heaviness in the world. We wanted to dance. We deserved to dance. But I had to trust God’s timing.”

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

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TOPICS:  beyoncé Beyonce black cowboy country music Cowboy Carter

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