Beyoncé's new country music era is already making history, as she's become the first Black woman to top the Billboard Country charts.
The Beyhive's excitement could not be contained after the singer, 42, confirmed that she was going to be releasing some country music starting with the tracks 'Texas Hold 'Em' and '16 Carriages' during the Super Bowl.
They'd already suspected the country era was coming based on her outfit for the Grammy Awards weeks before her new album was announced after she rocked a brown checkered blazer and shorts co-ord with a matching ribbon tie and cowboy hat.
Following the release of 'Texas Hold 'Em', the song debuted at the top of Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, making her the first Black woman to hit the number one spot.
Beyoncé is also only the second female solo artist - with no accompanying featured artists - to have debuted at number one on the charts, following Taylor Swift who became the first in 2021 with her re-recordings of 'Love Story' and 'All Too Well'.
As well as this, Beyoncé is also the first woman to top both the Hot Country Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hip Songs charts since the lists began in 1958, with only Justin Bieber, Billy Ray Cyrus, Ray Charles, and Morgan Wallen having previously led both charts.
The Hot Country Songs chart is decided by combining US sales, streams, and radio airplay, similar to the Billboard's Hot 100 chart.
Tuesday's chart is made up of numbers from the seven days prior to February 15, meaning 'Texas Hold 'Em', which was released on February 11, managed to make it to the top spot in just four days.
According to Luminate, the song was streamed 19.2 million times in those four days and downloaded 39,000 times in the US, also making it reach number two on the Hot 100 chart.
Both tracks will appear on the second part of Beyoncé's Renaissance album trilogy, which is set to drop on March 29.
'Texas Hold 'Em' caused some controversy after its release, when an Oklahoma country radio station initially refused requests to play it, later giving in following a viral campaign on Twitter (now known as X).
It is not the first time country music's relationship with Black artists has come under scrutiny, after Lil Nas X's 'Old Town Road' was removed from Billboard's Hot Country Songs after topping the chart, with chart compilers claiming it "wasn't country enough" to be eligible.
Billboard said at the time: "While 'Old Town Road' incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery, it does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version."
Beyoncé's country-inspired track 'Daddy Lessons' was also rejected by the Recording Academy’s country music committee, making it ineligible for country Grammys back in 2016.
