Pop
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While Beyoncé makes history on Billboard’s latest charts with her new album, Cowboy Carter, many of the set’s featured guests score their first Billboard Hot 100 appearances.
Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts, Shaboozey, Linda Martell, Willie Jones and Beyoncé’s daughter Rumi Carter all earn their first entries on the chart dated April 13 thanks to their credited billings on the album.
Adell, Spencer, Kennedy and Roberts all debut via their team-up on Beyoncé’s cover of The Beatles’ “Blackbiird.” The song debuts at No. 27 with 14 million U.S. official streams and 7,000 downloads sold in its first week, according to Luminate. It also opens at No. 6 on Hot Country Songs.
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The update is also just the second, and top-charting, version of the song to hit the Hot 100, after the Glee cast’s version spent a week at No. 37 in 2011. (The Beatles’ original, from 1968, was never released as a single and therefore wasn’t eligible to chart at the time.)
Not only does “Blackbiird” earn the four up-and-coming singer-songwriters their first Hot 100 visits, but it’s also their first overall appearances on Billboard’s charts.
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Adell, from Manhattan Beach, Calif., and Star Valley, Wyo., released her debut LP Buckle Bunny in July 2023 via Columbia Records. The set’s standout track “Love You a Little Bit” has garnered 27.2 million on-demand official U.S. streams to date. In an interview with Billboard at the CMT Music Awards (April 8), Adell said of singing alongside Beyoncé, “It’s been a grind and just to have someone of that caliber reach down and lift [me] up, it’s really, really special and I’m just very honored.”
Spencer, from Baltimore, released her debut album, My Stupid Life, in January via Elektra Records. She initially broke through with her EPs Compassion in 2020 and If I Ever Get There: A Day at Blackbird Studio in 2022.
Kennedy, an Alabama native, has released more than a dozen songs on streaming services since 2020, including the five-track Tiera in 2021 on Big Machine Label Group. The set includes a collaboration with three-time Hot 100-charting artist Breland.
Roberts hails from Alabama and California, and released her debut studio project, Bad Girl Bible, Vol. 1, in 2023 on ReynaRed Records/EMPIRE. She has been releasing songs since 2019.
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Shaboozey lands his first two Hot 100 entries: “Spaghettii” with Beyoncé and Martell, and “Sweet * Honey * Buckiin’” with Beyoncé. The tracks debut at Nos. 31 and 61, respectively. Shaboozey has been releasing hip-hop-inspired country/Americana-focused songs for a decade and has dropped two full-lengths in that span: Lady Wrangler in 2018 and Cowboys Live Forever, Outlaws Never Die in 2022. In 2019, he scored a placement on the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack with “Start a Riot” with Duckwrth.
While Martell is a first-timer on the Hot 100, she’s one of the most commercially successful Black female country stars in history. The country pioneer, 82, became the first Black woman to perform at the Grand Ole Opry in 1970, and charted three singles on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in 1969-70: “Color Him Father” (No. 22 peak), her cover of Duane Dee’s “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” (No. 33) and “Bad Case of the Blues” (No. 58).
When “Color Him Father” peaked at No. 22, it marked the highest charting song by a Black woman in the chart’s history at the time. She has released one full-length project: Color Me Country, which peaked at No. 40 on the Top Country Albums chart in 1970. In a review of the set, Billboard praised, “She has a terrific style and a true feeling for a country lyric.”
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Willie Jones, from Shreveport, La., debuts for the first time with his Beyoncé team-up “Just For Fun.” He has released two studio albums: Right Now in 2021 and Something to Dance To in June 2023, the latter on Sony Music. He also competed on The X Factor in 2012 and appeared on the Netflix reality show Chasing Cameron in 2016.
Beyoncé’s daughter Rumi Carter also debuts on the Hot 100 for the first time thanks to “Protector” with Beyoncé. At six years old, she passes her older sister, Blue Ivy Carter, to become the youngest charting female artist in Hot 100 history.
As previously reported, Cowboy Carter debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Top Country Albums and Americana/Folk Albums charts with 407,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States March 29-April 4 – the biggest one-week total of 2024. She becomes the first Black woman ever to lead Top Country Albums in the chart’s 60-year archives.
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Azealia Banks is never one to mince words, and she’s revived a decade-old feud with Lily Allen as she came to Beyoncé’s defense.
The “212” rapper took to her Instagram Stories over the weekend to call out the British pop star for her criticism of Bey’s Cowboy Carter album, and she recalled a play-by-play of an alleged phone call between herself and Allen that took place a “few years ago.”
“Okay @lilyallen you’re going to stop right there and sit this one out,” Banks wrote over an accompanying Billboard story regarding Allen framing Bey’s country pivot as “quite calculated.” Banks also brought up an alleged phone conversation between the two.
“Shall we discuss that phone call to me – a few years ago – obviously off your face – crying and sobbing asking me to forgive you for randomly being racist?” she wrote in part.
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Billboard has reached out to Allen for comment.
Allen name-dropped Banks on the April 4 episode of her Miss Me? podcast while dissecting Beyoncé’s Dolla Parton “Jolene” cover.
“I read a comment from Azealia Banks where she was like, ‘Stop talking about Jay-Z as if anyone wants to f–k him,” Allen said, laughing. “Literally, no one’s even looked at him for about 10 years, relax.”
Co-host Miquita Oliver then asked Allen if she found the Brooklyn rap mogul attractive, and she replied, “I mean, I’m attracted to power, so yes? But maybe not physically,” said the singer, who is married to Stranger Things star David Harbour. “I don’t want my current husband to get upset, but it’s not really the physical I go for.”
Allen continued to dig into Beyoncé’s decision to explore a country album with Cowboy Carter.
“It’s very weird that you’d cover the most successful songs in that genre,” Allen mused. “I just feel like it’s quite an interesting thing to do when you’re like trying to tackle a new genre and you just choose the biggest song in that genre to cover. I mean, you do you, Beyoncé, and she literally is doing her. Or is she doing Dolly?”
Allen continued: “The front cover is her in a cowboy hat, riding on a horse. She was wearing a blonde wig and a cowboy hat [at the Grammys]. It’s a bit about challenging these institutions that have thus far rejected Beyoncé as the icon and institution she is herself.”
Azealia Banks’ and Lily Allen’s history runs deep, as they previously feuded in 2013 while engaging in a Twitter beef that ended with Banks dissing Allen’s ex-husband Sam Cooper and saying he looked like a “thumb.”
Regardless of any critique, Beyoncé galloped to the No. 1 album in the country — her eighth in her discography — with Cowboy Carter topping the Billboard 200 with 407,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending April 4, according to Luminate.
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Billie Eilish is getting ready to make a splash with her third studio album, which the 22-year-old pop star finally announced is coming this spring in a post on social media Monday (April 8).
Sharing the cover art — which finds the singer sinking underwater, seemingly seconds after being dropped from the other side of a door that’s visible at the top of the frame — Eilish confirmed that the album, titled Hit Me Hard and Soft, arrives May 17.
“MY THIRD ALBUMMMMMMMMMMMMM COMES OUT MAY 17THHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHH🥹🥹🥹,” she excitedly captioned the post. “so crazy to be writing this right now i’m nervyyyyy & exciteddd 🫣”
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The nine-time Grammy winner also confirmed that, just like her first two albums, 2019’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? and 2021’s Happier Than Ever, her brother Finneas produced the new LP. She also warned fans that she won’t be releasing any singles ahead of the project’s release, noting, “i wanna give it to you all at once.”
“finneas and i truly could not be more proud of this album and we absolutely can’t wait for you to hear it,” she added. “love you love you love you.”
The announcement comes hours after Eilish shared an eerie video teasing the album, in which she descends deeper and deeper into an abyss of dark blue waves, her hands reaching in vain toward the surface. Just as it seemed that she was about to sink into oblivion, another hand came into the frame and grabs her arm.
Meanwhile, a piece of music with a video game-like beat – over which Eilish gently riffed – played.
“READY?” the “What Was I Made For?” artist captioned the video.
A few hours before she posted the teaser, Eilish had written on Instagram Stories, “I’M TELLING YOU SOMETHING TOMORROW.”
Leading up to her big announcement, the Oscar winner teased her next era via mysterious billboards in Los Angeles and New York City, advertising what appeared to be new lyrics. One of them read, “She’s the headlights I’m the deer,” while others displayed the messages, “I try to live in black and white” and “Did I cross the line?”
Eilish also recently added all 100-million-plus of her Instagram followers to her “Close Friends” Story, a move that earned her 7 million new followers in just two days. There, she’s been posting blue-hued artwork and cryptic messages alluding to a pending announcement.
Watch Eilish’s announcement and teaser video below.
Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter gallops in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated April 13), debuting with 407,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending April 4, according to Luminate. It’s the superstar’s eighth No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200.
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With 407,000 units earned, Cowboy Carter claims the biggest week of 2024 and the largest since Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) bowed with 1.653 million units on the Nov. 11, 2023-dated list. Cowboy Carter’s launch is also Beyoncé’s biggest week, by units, since her Lemonade album debuted at No. 1 with 653,000 units (mostly from traditional album sales) on the May 14, 2016, chart. The new effort also lands Beyoncé her biggest streaming week ever.
Cowboy Carter also launches at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums, Americana/Folk Albums and Top Album Sales charts. She’s the first Black woman ever to have led the Top Country Albums list, dating to its January 1964 inception. Cowboy Carter also claims the biggest week for a country album, by units earned, since last July, when Taylor Swift’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), opened at No. 1 on the July 22, 2023 chart with 716,000 units.
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Cowboy Carter was introduced by the singles “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages,” which were released during the Super Bowl festivities on Feb. 11. The tracks debuted and have peaked (through the charts dated April 6) at Nos. 1 and 9, respectively, on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, marking Beyoncé’s first entries on the tally. They have also reached Nos. 1, for two weeks, and 38 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 songs chart.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new April 13, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on April 9. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of Cowboy Carter’s first-week unit sum of 407,000, SEA units comprise 232,000 (equaling 300.41 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), traditional album sales comprise 168,000 and TEA units comprise 7,000. With 300.41 million on-demand official streams, Cowboy Carter earns Beyoncé her biggest streaming week ever and the fourth-largest for a country album.
Cowboy Carter marks Beyoncé’s eighth No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. She previously led the list with Renaissance (in 2022), Lemonade (2016), her self-titled album (2013), 4 (2011), I Am… Sasha Fierce (2008), B’Day (2006) and Dangerously In Love (2003). Beyoncé breaks out of a tie with Janet Jackson for the fourth-most No. 1s among women. Swift has the most, with 13, followed by Barbra Streisand (11), Madonna (nine), Beyoncé (eight) and Jackson (seven).
Cowboy Carter’s sales were supported by the album’s availability across a number of configurations, released on March 29. It was issued as standard 19-track edition on vinyl (across four variants, each pressed on different color vinyl [black, red, white and blue] with alternate back cover artwork), a CD with an additional song (“Flamenco”) and a digital download and streaming edition (both in clean and explicit versions, with three bonus songs “Flamenco,” “Spaghetti” and “Ya Ya,” plus two interludes). The CD edition was issued in four variants (each with different back cover art). Two of the variants were sold as stand-alone items, while two of the CDs were only available inside two deluxe boxed sets (each with a different branded T-shirt contained inside a branded box). All physical configurations of the album were sold exclusively through Beyoncé’s official webstore, while the digital download and streaming editions were widely available.
The vinyl edition of Cowboy Carter sold 62,000 copies (across its four variants combined), marking Beyoncé’s biggest week on vinyl and the largest week for any vinyl album in 2024.
Cowboy Carter boasts an eclectic lineup of billed guest artists, including Tanner Adell, Beyoncé’s daughter Rumi Carter, Miley Cyrus, Willie Jones, Tiera Kennedy, Linda Martell, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Post Malone, Reyna Roberts, Shaboozey, and Brittney Spencer. Among the many additional players on the album: 070 Shake, Jon Batiste, Ryan Beatty, Gary Clark Jr., The-Dream, Rhiannon Giddens, Paul McCartney, Pharrell, Robert Randolph, Nile Rodgers, Raphael Saadiq, Sara Watkins and Stevie Wonder.
Future and Metro Boomin’s We Don’t Trust You falls to No. 2 on the latest Billboard 200 after debuting atop the list a week ago. The set earned 131,000 equivalent album units in its second week (down 48%). Morgan Wallen’s former leader One Thing at a Time rises 4-3 with 69,000 (up 2%) and Ariana Grande’s chart-topping Eternal Sunshine dips 3-4 with 58,000 (down 19%).
J-Hope’s Hope On the Street, Vol. 1 debuts at No. 5 with 50,000 equivalent album units earned. It’s J-Hope’s second top 10-charting effort, and highest-charting set, following Jack In the Box, which peaked at No. 6 on the Sept. 2, 2023-dated list. Of Hope On the Street’s 50,000 units earned, album sales comprise 44,000, SEA units comprise 4,000 (equaling 5.7 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise 2,000. The album’s sales were supported by eight collectible CD editions (including exclusive variants for Target, Walmart and the Weverse store), all containing branded paper merchandise.
Olivia Rodrigo’s former No. 1 Guts falls 2-6 on the new Billboard 200, with 49,000 equivalent album units earned (down 32%), Noah Kahan’s Stick Season descends 5-7 with 44,000 units (down 2%) and Taylor Swift’s chart-topping Lover falls 7-8 with 40,000 units (down 1%). Rounding out the top 10 are two former leaders: SZA’s SOS (6-9 with 39,000; down 3%) and Zach Bryan’s self-titled album (8-10 with nearly 39,000; down 1%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
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