State Champ Radio Texas Hold ‘Em
From Vice President Kamala Harris to Michelle Obama, everyone has something to say about Cowboy Carter. Since its March 29 release, Beyoncé’s eighth solo studio album has dominated conversations around the world – with its masterful mélange of genres as disparate as Americana and Brazilian funk and its sly connections to its Billboard 200-topping predecessor, 2022’s Renaissance.
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Cowboy Carter arrives amid a mainstream country boom, with acts like Morgan Wallen, Lainey Wilson and Luke Combs scoring some of the genre’s biggest crossover hits in over a decade. While country legends like Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton appear on the album, Beyoncé also ropes in some of the genre’s ascendant contemporary stars, including Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Reyna Roberts, Tiera Kennedy, Willie Jones and Shaboozey. Her decision to predicate the album on the genre’s oft-disregarded Black roots and her own family legacy has provided an intriguing juxtaposition to an era of mainstream country music that’s as rap-influenced as some of Beyoncé’s own pre-Cowboy Carter hits.
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The current lay of the land for country music is one of the most fascinating in mainstream music – particularly for Ken Burns, who directed 2019’s Country Music, an eight-part documentary series chronicling the history and evolution of country in American culture. In the documentary, which spawned a Billboard chart-topping soundtrack titled Country Music: A Film by Ken Burns, there is an extensive exploration of the African roots of the banjo and how pivotal the instrument was, in addition to Black and Mexican musicians, in cultivating the genre. Country Music also features contributions from Grammy-winning musician and scholar Rhiannon Giddens, who plays the banjo on Cowboy Carter’s historic Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single “Texas Hold ‘Em.” In celebration of Cowboy Carter, Burns also curated a “Black Icons of Country Music” video playlist on his digital platform, UNUM.
In a lively conversation, with Billboard, Emmy-winning documentarian Ken Burns discusses Cowboy Carter, how the new record recalls the Beatles’ White Album, Beyoncé’s covers of “Blackbird” and “Jolene,” and the important role Queen Bey plays in the archival of Black music.
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When did you first hear that Beyoncé was “going country?” What came to mind for you?
I don’t remember when I heard it, but it’s now ubiquitous. You can’t unhear it. We have silos out of commerce and convenience. Commerce wants to have a separate R&B from a separate rock’n’roll from a separate gospel from a separate classical from a separate jazz from a separate country from a separate Americana, etc.
I suppose [these are] easy descriptions for those of us [who] write about it, but they don’t exist. People listen to everything, and that’s what’s great. All of the original major country stars had a Black mentor of some kind. Take The Carter Family: A.P. Carter would travel around with the song collector, a Black man named Leslie Riddle. Jimmie Rogers — who, with The Carter Family, is the Saturday night and Sunday morning of country music’s genesis — learned everything from the Black railroad gangs that he worked with in Mississippi as a kid. Hank Williams, who is called the “Hillbilly Shakespeare,” learned everything he knew about music, he said, from a man named Rufus “Tee Tot” Payne.
Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music, had Arnold Schultz as his mentor, another black man. Johnny Cash could barely play two chords on the guitar before he met Gus Cannon on a stoop in Memphis in the early 50s, he had been a blues singer since the ’20s. It’s always been there. These silos are actually nonexistent.
You’re hitting on a thread that Beyoncé alluded to in her Instagram message detailing some of the inspiration behind Cowboy Carter. One significant event along the five-year journey to the new album was her 2016 CMAs performance with The Chicks. Were you aware of the controversy around that?
Very, but the thing is: Who cares? This is what we focus on. We focus on the crucifixion, and we forget about the teaching. You have the Dixie Chicks – which automatically means it’s going to be controversial – and you have a Black woman, is that going to bring out a cr-cker who’s going to say something stupid? Of course it is! We’re in a polarized America. But at what point do we stop writing about the fact that people divide up completely superficially along lines of race and gender and politics? The important thing is she played, it’s a really good song, she played it really well and her new album is filled with great wonders. And let us also remember that the number one country single of all time is by a Black gay rapper.
I’ve centered race and the story of race in a lot of my films, and it bothered a lot of people — in the same way your question is talking about people who were bothered by her presence [at the CMAs]. They’re just repeating knucklehead ideas that have been around as long as people have been around — that you can other somebody and justify this separation. The other side of it is understanding the universal appeal of the country music, which is three chords and the truth, these little stories that are respective of who we are as human beings.
Art is way ahead of us as journalists and as people and culture who can’t get our act together. Artists are always reminding us that these barriers are nonexistent. You do not need a passport as a Black person or any kind of person to come into country music and find a home.
In your 2019 documentary, you spoke extensively about the African history of the banjo and the pivotal role that Black and Mexican musicians played in crafting what we now understand to be country music. On her album, Beyoncé loops in Black country pioneer Linda Martell and newcomers like Tanner Adell. Why do you think it was important for her to bring these artists along with her on this specific journey?
She knows that [with] just her mere presence. she’s making a huge statement. She knows that she’s not the first person here, and she’s trying to remind us that all of us stand on the shoulders of giants. Those shoulders were both black and white shoulders. There’s an incredible irony to me, that somehow white country is so mainstream that it feels compelled to say to a Black woman, “You can’t come in this door.” She’s in. She’s in anywhere. It doesn’t matter. Lil Nas X is in. Rhiannon Giddens is in. Linda Martell is in, her album in 1970 was fantastic. I remember I worked in a record store in 1970 and we sold it!
Have you listened to Cowboy Carter yet?
Yeah, I love it. “Texas Hold ’Em” is so fabulous. It’s really great and very bossy. And she’s not even conforming to the tiniest role that women often assume in country. She’s recognizing its pioneers, that’s why she’s lauding Dolly [Parton], who is, far and away, one of the greatest composers of all time in any genre. [Dolly] was accused of leaving country music, and she said, “I’m not leaving country music, I’m taking it with me.” When Grace Slick and other female rock ‘n’ rollers in ‘60s were hypersexualized, Loretta Lynn was writing “Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’” and “The Pill,” [songs] you could say are proto-feminist. She’d never say “I’m a feminist,” but it was proto-feminist long before anybody like Joan Baez was saying stuff like this.
We’ve just got to understand, particularly in “Texas Hold ‘Em,” [Beyoncé] just walks in the door. It’s like a saloon in a Western. She uses the word “b–ch,” she’s unafraid to [reject] the assumption that a woman will be a certain way. That has never been her way, and we’re lucky for it because she becomes a pioneer.
Rhiannon Giddens, who lent her knowledge to Country Music, plays the banjo on “Texas Hold ‘Em.” What do you think is the importance of her specific presence on the track?
First of all, she’s one of the greatest human beings I’ve ever met. She has combined exquisite musicianship and an understanding that there are no borders with this incredible interest in history. In fact, I’m working on a history of the American Revolution, and there’s Rhiannon Giddens doing a percussive, vocal, unbelievable version of — you wouldn’t recognize it unless I’m telling you — “Amazing Grace.” I’m nowhere near as smart as Beyoncé, and if I know to go to Rhiannon, then she already knew!
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Outside of “Texas,” were there any other moments on the album jumped out at you in terms of what they could have been referencing ?
I felt like it was kind of like a Sgt. Pepper’s [Lonely Hearts Club Band.] It was sort of experimental in parts. There’s small takes. there’s long takes. It’s just a laboratory. I guess Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, to my mind, rule the world, and I’m perfectly okay with it! [Laughs]. [Cowboy Carter feels] like you were just asked to grow up a little bit. Put on some big boy pants and come along where [she’s] at.
From The Beatles to Brazilian funk, Beyoncé is pulling from a ridiculous range of influences on this album. It’s almost like an epic in itself.
Isn’t she saying that there are no borders? All of this stuff is her gam! So, maybe you don’t say Sgt. Peppers, you say the White Album, in which you have the greatest heavy metal song. In a couple of places, you have the most beautiful love ballad. There’s some great country pieces in several places. Is there great experimental stuff? Yes. Is there a Beach Boys song? Yes. Is there a Bob Dylan song? Yes. Is there a folk song? Yes. And she’s just one person! It took four [people] to make that album, plus George Martin. You’ve got “Helter Skelter,” “Birthday,” one of the greatest songs of all time in “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and it’s non Lennon-McCartney, you’ve got “Blackbird”! It’s still revelatory to me when I listen to it. So, Beyoncé said, “I’m going into country, but, by the way, I’m bringing every other musical form with me.”
Obviously, Beyoncé covers both “Blackbird” and Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” on Cowboy Carter. How did those reimaginings land for you?
“Blackbird” has gravitated into McCartney saying, in recent years, that it’s about Black women in the struggle for civil rights. Whether that’s true or not — maybe that’s one of the meanings of it — doesn’t really matter. I trust Sir Paul, but Lady Beyoncé, or Queen, I should say, has given us this as a way of saying, “What are you all actually talking about whenever you say ‘no’?” That’s all we do in our dialectic, is say ‘no.’ And she’s a resounding yes.
“Jolene” is wonderful. It’s such a great, great vibe. We have this music given to us by the gods that’s coursing through us, and each generation has to rediscover and reexamine what we’re saying and how we’re saying it. She’s got guts. It’s not just this album, it’s just the last three or four — you just go, “Whoa, where did she come from? How lucky are we?” And when you stop and think about how defining Black music has been for all of American culture over the generations, the fact that there’s still [such ignorant white people] left in this country just makes you go, “I really feel sorry for them.” [Laughs.]
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In terms of categorizing the album, whether that’s via Billboard’s own charts or by separate awards institutions, do you consider this a country album? What do you anticipate those conversations looking like in the coming months and what do you think the impact would be should she get slotted into “pop” or “urban contemporary” instead of “country?”
She’s not gonna be barred from country. She can be picked off the white male, drum kit, electrified, programmed radio stuff, I suppose. I don’t know what it will become. I think she’s a force in music and I don’t think we have to make too much about it. Look at Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton, [who both appear on Cowboy Carter]. They bridge gaps between people. They have kept factions within country and pop music together, talking to each other for generations. He, she, and now Beyoncé and others are reminders of our possibilities of being together — of not othering people.
Outside of “Texas Hold ‘Em,” what are your three favorite tracks from the album?
I can’t hide behind “Texas?” [Laughs.] “Texas” is one of them! Two of them would be cover covers and that would be “Blackbird” and “Jolene.” I don’t think there’s a better song on Earth than “Jolene” and Beyoncé knows that. And I think, “Smoke Hour,” it’s just a small little thing, a riff. It’s like when you’d hear these alternative takes of stuff on Beatles anthologies and you realize they had to go through there to arrive at what they did.
How do you think we can best structure conversations around this album so that we’re not bottlenecking the larger conversation around Black country music and its contemporary artists?
If you focus on the crucifixion and not on the teaching, you’ve missed it. So, if we’re always saying, “Oh, 2016 Dixie Chicks controversy, Black Woman, people protest, whatever,” we’ve missed the opportunity to just say, “Well, this is a whole bunch of really great new songs?” I’m now required by the nature of our conversation to say, “by a woman who happens to be Black.” Which means bupkis, right? And of course, in America, it means everything. We’re never going to get away from it, but that’s what we want to do. And when you have artists like Beyoncé, she’s just saying, “Don’t buy the con. Don’t invest in this. Invest in something else.” She’s trying to stretch herself and she’s an artist who makes music and is inviting us along.
In terms of this album’s dedication to archiving the expanse of America music — and highlighting the Black foundation of virtually all of that music — what would you liken that to in popular media?
There’s a big project at the Smithsonian in the ‘30s that collected the sounds of America. They recorded slaves that were still alive, people who remembered slavery, old men and women, folk tunes and things like that. It was part of the New Deal’s attempt to rebuild the country. We took stock of ourselves, and I feel [Beyoncé’s] appeal to archive is remembering that as much as all of this stuff is brand new, it owes its existence to what came before.
Beyoncé doesn’t just drop albums, she drops incredibly dense, multilayered bodies of work that pull from decades of musical history across genres and regions to fashion something wholly new and idiosyncratic from the legacies of those who came before her. With the release of her eighth solo studio album, Cowboy Carter, on Friday (March 29), […]
03/29/2024
Park your Lexus, throw your keys up and dig into Billboard’s preliminary ranking and review of Beyoncé’s eighth solo studio album.
03/29/2024
There’s a new sheriff in town, and her name is Cowboy Carter. On Friday (Mach 29), Beyoncé finally unleashed her eighth solo studio album in its entirety. The Grammy winner first introduced her Cowboy Carter era with a pair of country singles — “16 Carriages” and Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Texas Hold ‘Em” — released […]
Hold your horses! Beyoncé has just unveiled an exclusive limited edition album cover for her forthcoming Cowboy Carter LP, just one day after debuting the album’s eye-popping standard artwork.
On Wednesday, the 32-time Grammy winner took to her official Instagram page to share the alternate Cowboy Carter artwork — which is exclusively available for purchase through her official online webstore.
For the new cover, Beyoncé strikes a statuesque pose on a small, gray platform as she stands completely nude with nothing but a pageant sash covering her body. Her hair is braided up with red, white, and beige beads, while the completely black background echoes the artwork for the rodeo queen-nodding standard cover and the artwork for 2022’s Renaissance album.
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Yesterday (March 19), Queen Bey revealed the standard cover for Cowboy Carter, which features the singer perched backwards on a white horse mid-gallop as she raises a cropped American flag and dons red, white and blue chaps and a pageant sash that reads the album’s title.
The fact that the pageant sash is a recurring motif on both Cowboy Carter album covers was not lost on eagle-eyed fans — especially because of the name printed on the sash for the limited edition cover. Instead of “Cowboy Carter,” that sash reads “Beyincé,” a variant spelling of Tina Knowles‘ maiden name. While some social media commentators were left feeling perplexed at the name, Knowles has spoken at length about the history of her family’s name, most recently during her appearance on Heather Thomson’s In My Heart podcast in 2020.
“A lot of people don’t know that Beyoncé is my last name. It’s my maiden name,” she told Thomson. “My name was Celestine Beyoncé, which at that time was not a cool thing to have that weird name.”
According to Knowles, a businesswoman and fashion designer in her own right, she is one of a handful of people in her family with that spelling of “Beyoncé” due to a clerical error on several of their birth certificates. Her brother and his children, including award-winning songwriter Angie Beyincé, spell their surname with an “I” instead of an “O.”
“I think me and my brother Skip were the only two that had B-E-Y-O-N-C-E,” she continue. “Because we asked my mother when I was grown, I was like, ‘Why is my brother’s name spelled B-E-Y-I-N-C-E? You know, it’s all these different spellings.’ And my mom’s reply to me was, like, ‘That’s what they put on your birth certificate.’” Knowles went on to reflect on asking her mother to demand a correction, but the reality of the times were that “Black people didn’t get birth certificates.”
The new Cowboy Carter album cover brings Beyoncé’s devotion to her family’s legacy — which she sings of in Billboard Hot 100 hit “16 Carriages” (No. 38) — full circle. Now, both her married name (Carter, by way of husband Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter) and her mother’s maiden name are represented in the artwork for her upcoming album.
This isn’t the first time Beyoncé has incorporated her family names in her ventures. In 2006, she and her mother started House of Deréon, a clothing line whose name was derived from her maternal grandmother’s maiden name. Seven years later, she mounted the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour in support of her Billboard 200-topping 4 and self-titled LPs, and in 2016, she launched Ivy Park, an athleisure clothing line whose name is partially inspired by her daughter’s, Blue Ivy Carter.
In addition to sharing the new Cowboy Carter album cover, Beyoncé also shared some snaps from her and Jay-Z’s exclusive annual Gold Party in celebration of the Oscars. Among the photos were a regal shot of her mother, an adorable picture of the “Crazy In Love” power couple snuggling with one and another and several gorgeous flicks showcasing yet another Western-inspired outfit from Queen Bey.
Cowboy Carter —which features “16 Carriages” and the historic Hot Country Songs chart-topper “Texas Hold ‘Em” — hits digital streaming platforms on March 29.
Check out the limited edition Cowboy Carter album cover below:
It’s officially time to saddle up! A little more than a month after making a grand pivot into country music with the release of “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages,” Beyoncé has finally unveiled the official album cover for her forthcoming LP, Cowboy Carter.
A clear continuation of the Renaissance aesthetic, the album cover for Cowboy Carter finds Queen Bey striking a regal pose while perched atop a striking white horse. She dons red, white and blue chaps, a simple white cowboy hat and flowing platinum blonde locks as she raises the American flag. Like the Renaissance album artwork, the background is completely black — save for the slightly illuminated dirt road at the bottom of the frame.
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Queen Bey shared the Cowboy Carter album cover on her official Instagram page on Tuesday (March 19). In her lengthy caption, she detailed the inspiration behind her new record, which has been in the making for “five years.” Cowboy Carter is the official follow-up to 2022’s Billboard 200-topping Renaissance — a sprawling dance record that won four Grammys, housed a pair of Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits in “Break My Soul” (No. 1) and “Cuff It” (No. 6) and spawned a record-breaking world tour and accompanying box office-topping documentary concert film.
“This album has been over five years in the making. It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and it was very clear that I wasn’t,” she wrote, possibly alluding to her experience performing the country-indebted “Daddy Lessons” at the 2016 CMA Awards alongside The Chicks. “But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive. It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world, while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives educating on our musical history.”
At the top of 2024, Beyoncé unleashed a pair of country singles during the Super Bowl. Alongside “16 Carriages,” a gorgeous Americana-nodding ballad, Queen Bey dropped “Texas Hold ‘Em,” an irresistible country-pop tune that made her both the first Black woman to top Hot Country Songs and the first Black woman to top the Hot 100 with a country song. Despite the commercial success of “Texas,” Beyoncé did face some criticism from players in the genre — one country radio station even initially refused to play, but even they couldn’t resist “Texas.”
“The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me,” she continued. “[Act II] is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work. I have a few surprises on the album, and have collaborated with some brilliant artists who I deeply respect. I hope that you can hear my heart and soul, and all the love and passion that I poured into every detail and every sound.”
In her message, Beyoncé both stressed that Cowboy Carter is “a continuation of Renaissance” and acknowledged the Billboard chart history she made with “Texas Hold ‘Em.” “I feel honored to be the first Black woman with the number one single on the Hot Country Songs chart,” she gushed. “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.”
While Queen Bey has kept the Cowboy Carter visuals under lock and key — just as she did with Renaissance — the album cover reveal is one step in that direction. In fact, Beyoncé’s post coincides with the 10-day countdown until the release of Cowboy Carter — which is currently slated to drop on March 29.
“This ain’t a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album,” she declared at the end of her message. “This is act ii COWBOY CARTER, and I am proud to share it with y’all!”
Check out Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album artwork below.
When Beyoncé released “Texas Hold ‘Em” as the first single from her upcoming Act II album on Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 18), it scored a No. 2 debut on the Billboard Hot 100 with just four days of tracking activity. That was impressive enough — but in its second week, “Hold ‘Em” maintains and then some, climbing to No. 1 on the chart.
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The song makes for Beyoncé’s second Hot 100 No. 1 of the 2020s, following Renaissance leader “Break My Soul,” and the ninth of her solo career (following four notched at the turn of the ’00s as part of Destiny’s Child). While the song continues to excel in sales and streams in its second week, it also grows rapidly at radio — including on country radio, whose approval has been historically hard to come by for artists from outside of the Nashville community (as well as for Black women artists in general).
What does the No. 1 mean for Beyoncé? And will it be a gate-busting moment for Black women in the country space in general? Billboard staffers discuss these questions and more below.
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1. A week after debuting at No. 2, “Texas Hold ‘Em” climbs to the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100. On a scale from a pair of deuces to a royal flush, how big of a win do you think this is for Beyoncé?
Rania Aniftos: Full house. Beyoncé has hit icon status at this point, so anything she touches turns to gold, but I’m sure that making a major genre switch and it being received so well is incredibly validating no matter what status level you’re at.
Kyle Denis: Royal flush. Beyoncé bagged her ninth solo No. 1, made history in the process and pulled off a highly effective launch of both her country pivot and the second installment of her three-act Renaissance project. Most importantly, she did this all while playing the game (mostly) on her terms. Sure, Bey & Co. gave into the “multiple versions” trend with recent single releases, but “Texas Hold ‘Em” reached nearly instant astronomical heights without deviating from the current Beyoncé playbook: surprises and silence.
From a purely musical and personal standpoint, it must feel really gratifying to not only keep scoring hits nearly three decades in the game, but to score one of your biggest hits in years while exploring a genre you grew up listening to and cherishing.
Jason Lipshutz: Let’s call it a very strong full house. Beyoncé didn’t need another Hot 100 chart-topper for the Act II era to continue her phenomenal run, especially after a No. 2 debut demonstrated widespread interest in her next project. Yet “Texas Hold ‘Em” powering to No. 1 in its second week shows that Act II is kicking off with a bonafide smash — the type of multi-quadrant, cross-genre hit that makes the music industry salivate — and could very well become Beyoncé’s biggest chart hit in a decade. Maybe it’s all just gravy for Queen Bey at this point, but it’s still gotta taste pretty delicious.
Melinda Newman: This is a full house for Beyoncé, the type of hand that any poker player would be excited to have and one that doesn’t come along every day, but isn’t so rare and unattainable as a royal flush. It’s still a thrill to see the cards (or chart positions, in this case), add up to such a winning hand, no matter how many times an artist has been here before — and in Beyoncé’s case, it’s eight times before as a solo artist.
Andrew Unterberger: To invert a Garth Brooks title from 30-plus years ago — in a way that may not make all that much sense in actual poker terms — Beyoncé has a full house, working on four of a kind. It’s just one of many historic accomplishments for her at this point, but it’s still a pretty big deal for her to have such success with such a hard pivot, and to maybe end up with her biggest hit in a decade or longer when all is said and done.
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2. “Hold ‘Em” has gotten off to a much better start on streaming than any of her Renaissance hits or other singles from the past five years or so — helped, of course, by instant virality on TikTok. What do you think is the biggest factor that has allowed this song to take off with that kind of velocity?
Rania Aniftos: Bey played her cards just right with something fun and different. Everyone loves Beyoncé’s classic R&B sound, but I was definitely among the masses that rushed to streaming services to hear this new country song as fast as possible. And just like everyone else, I loved it and have been listening to it ever since, despite not generally being a country fan myself. I think music fans like hearing something unique from an artist that’s been in the game for decades, and it’s even better when it’s executed as well as “Texas Hold ’Em.”
Kyle Denis: The same night “Hold ‘Em” dropped, it was available on all streaming platforms. There wasn’t a mysterious unlisted YouTube video nor was there a week-long Spotify Premium exclusivity period nor were the new country songs locked away on TIDAL years at a time. And immediate wide release coupled with a blockbuster Super Bowl ad gave “Hold Em” an advantage that few Beyoncé singles have ever had. Think about it: even “Break My Soul” was simply announced via the singer’s Instagram bio.
Speaking of “Break My Soul,” a lot of the immediate success of “Hold ‘Em” is due to the work Renaissance did to help Beyoncé regain her footing on streaming. “Break My Soul” marked the first solo song attached to a Beyoncé studio album in six years. From 2016-2022 – although she gifted us a bevy of stunning projects — Beyoncé withheld a studio album while streaming exploded. Now that she’s gotten solo streaming smashes and reintroduced herself to younger audiences through those hits and the Renaissance World Tour, “Hold ‘Em” was always going to get off to a particularly strong start.
Of course, there are also the facts that 1) “Hold ‘Em” is an unequivocally catchy song with wide appeal that fits into the current guitar-centric wave of pop music and 2) “Hold ‘Em” benefitted, at least initially, from the novelty of Beyoncé making a country record.
Jason Lipshutz: The song’s chorus possesses a perfect combination of hummable, radio-friendly hooks and interactive TikTok fodder for a hit in 2024 — “Texas Hold ’Em” reaches the passive listener ready to enjoy a new Beyoncé singles, and the active social media user ready to make the most of those “hey”s and “woo”s. If the song relied more heavily on gimmickry, maybe it would still go viral, but it wouldn’t be hitting the top of the Hot 100. “Texas Hold ’Em” contains a stronger hook than any of the (still great) big Renaissance singles, and looks like it may eclipse them in terms of both Hot 100 longevity and TikTok reach.
Melinda Newman: Announcing and releasing it during the Super Bowl was a brilliant move and showed that an artist doesn’t have to be a halftime performer, or even in attendance, to get a huge bump. Her Verizon commercial was money very well spent with 123 million viewers made aware that new music was dropping. It’s hard to think of any other platform that could have created such an instant blast.
Andrew Unterberger: She landed in the right genre at the right time, didn’t she? The mainstream ceiling for country right now is basically as high (and the audience as wide) as it’s been for R&B or even for more classic pop at any point this decade, and Bey’s spin on it is so fun and fresh and viral-friendly — and clearly authentic to her and her artistry — that it’s really no major surprise it’s being embraced by all kinds of 2024 audiences.
3. “Hold ‘Em” is also off to a fast start on that most contentious of platforms for a crossover star — country radio, moving No. 54 to 34 in its second week on the Country Airplay listing. Do you think it will continue to climb there, or is this hot start mostly due to a curiosity factor that will abate in the weeks to come?
Rania Aniftos: I want it to keep climbing! A Black female artist atop country radio is long overdue. Period.
Kyle Denis: Country radio is notoriously hard to break if you’re Black, a woman, or crossing over – and Beyoncé is all three at the same time. I see “Hold ‘Em” peaking somewhere in the 20s on Country Airplay; if it can break the top 20, I think that will be one of the song’s most notable achievements. But who knows? “Hold ‘Em” is well on its way to being too big to completely ignore, so if listeners connect with the track and Columbia Nashville works its muscle, the sky is the limit for “Texas.”
Jason Lipshutz: I could see it continuing to climb into the top 20 and potentially even the top 10, but have some trouble vying for No. 1 against core country artists. History tells us that crossover artists can move the needle at country radio without necessarily installing their songs in the heaviest rotation, so I think that “Texas Hold ’Em” could keep gaining spins while still being boxed out of the pinnacle by songs from artists like Warren Zeiders, Morgan Wallen and HARDY.
Melinda Newman: There was definitely a curiosity factor and we’ll know for sure if that’s all it was if in a couple of weeks it begins to fall, but the 20-position leap in its first full week on the Country Airplay chart indicates that fans are responding to the song and requesting it. Columbia Nashville is pushing the song and that will carry weight with programmers. Plus, it sounds great on the radio. It’s sweet vindication for Beyoncé, after 2016’s “Daddy Lessons” got no love from mainstream country and was rejected for consideration by the Grammys in the country categories.
Andrew Unterberger: A 20-spot jump in its second week is definitely some eye-opening movement — especially in country radio, which can be purposefully gradual in its adoption of new songs, particularly from non-core artists. i imagine that will slow a little as the excitement (and conversation) around “Hold ‘Em” recedes a bit, but it feels now like it could end up a real hit there — which would’ve felt close to unimaginable just a couple weeks ago.
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4. Billboard reported last week about how big a bump Bey’s country pivot had already afforded to both up-and-coming and legendary Black female artists in the country space. Do you think “Hold ‘Em” is turning into a moment of real significance in country’s history in terms of shining more light on the Black female artists who have been doing important work in the genre all along — or is it too soon to tell if its impact will be a lasting one?
Rania Aniftos: I certainly hope so. With artists like Mickey Guyton, Brittney Spencer and Tanya Blount-Trotter of The War and Treaty out there, Black women in country have always displayed immeasurable talent. With Bey’s success with “Texas Hold ’Em,” I’d like to see country music spotlight other Black women as well, including up and coming artists who might not have had the confidence (or opportunity) to pursue a more mainstream avenue before.
Kyle Denis: I think the song is already turning into a moment of real significance in country’s history. Even outside of its milestone achievements, new fans are falling in love with country and checking out other Black woman in the genre as a result of “Hold ‘Em.” I see fans sharing playlists rounding up notable Black women in country music every day. Ideally, the impact of “Texas Hold ‘Em” is a lasting one, but we’ll probably have to wait for the next mainstream country album from a Black woman to gauge just how much things have (or haven’t) changed.
Jason Lipshutz: Yeah, way too soon to tell. “Texas Hold ’Em” producing real gains for rising and veteran Black female artists in country makes for an important by-product of a smash single, but we can’t yet say how sustained those gains will be, which songs and artists will experience prolonged revivals, and, stepping back even further, how much the paradigm will shift as more Black women release country music for mass audiences. Let’s hope “Texas Hold ’Em” symbolizes real change for music discovery and in-genre opportunity, but we likely won’t know its full impact for a while.
Melinda Newman: Sadly, no. Beyoncé occupies her own unique space in the musical firmament and it’s likely that the streaming bump other Black female artists saw is short-lived. If radio stations aren’t inclined to play Black female artists, at least streaming outlets may be a little more willing to add them to their playlists, but I don’t expect for Beyoncé to be an “a-ha moment” for programmers.
Andrew Unterberger: I doubt it’s going to be an opening of the floodgates exactly, but I think it could be an important turning point in subtler, deeper ways. For the biggest Black female artist in popular music this century to stake her ground in country, and to be embraced from (nearly) all corners in the process… it’s going to have an impact beyond what we can see in the immediate numbers, and more in the long-term shifts of perception from artists and audiences on all sides. (And as we’re already seeing, it’s going to have a pretty sizable impact in the immediate numbers, too.)
5. Given the hot start it’s off to and how it’s still growing rapidly at radio — it debuts at No. 43 on Radio Songs this week — it doesn’t seem like “Hold ‘Em” is likely to fold on the Hot 100 particularly soon. How many weeks total would you guess it spends at No. 1 on the chart?
Rania Aniftos: I’m going to guess a good nine or ten weeks — perhaps non-consecutively and with a boost from when Act II arrives or something like a surprise performance or remix.
Kyle Denis: Barring a “Carnival” surge or a massive breakout hit from Eternal Sunshine, I can see “Hold ‘Em” spending at least eight weeks atop the Hot 100… so until Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets songs make their debut. And, by then, “Hold ‘Em” might be so strong that it’ll only get knocked off the top for a week.
Jason Lipshutz: My guess would be six weeks — a legitimate smash, to be sure, but one that happens to be hitting its stride during a crammed two-month period in the release calendar. Could another single from Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine pause its run? What about the focus track from Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department? “Hold ’Em” is just getting started, but at a busy moment in pop, so I’ll predict a half-dozen nonconsecutive weeks on top.
Melinda Newman: Barring a rebound by Jack Harlow’s “Lovin’ on Me,” which dropped 1-2 after six weeks at No. 1, Beyoncé probably has a few weeks at the top with “Hold ‘Em.” Most of the songs in the top 10 have already hit their peak so that plays in her favor.
Andrew Unterberger: I’ll say six. It could end up being longer, but competition is about to start getting thick with new albums from Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift (and maybe another Vultures or two), while current top five hits from Teddy Swims, Benson Boone and Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign continue to grow. In the less-crowded winter landscape of 2022 or 2023, Beyoncé might’ve had a clear path until at least April, but this year she’s going to have to fight every week to keep hold of her spot.
When Beyoncé says something, people listen. When she planted her iconic silhouette squarely in front of a towering screen that simply read “feminist,” thousands of essays and think pieces followed. When she sang, “Okay, ladies, now let’s get in formation,” everyone heeded; whether they were boycotting her or queuing up for her then-record-breaking Formation World Tour, people fell in line. Last year, when Queen Bey requested that attendees of the last few shows of her historic Renaissance World Tour wear their “most fabulous silver fashions,” they packed stadiums dressed in outfits shinier than a disco ball. As per The New York Times, searches for silver clothes and sparkly, mirrored cowboy hats increased by 25% that same week.
We listen to Beyoncé because she’s one of the most important artists of our time and very arguably our greatest living entertainer. But we also listen to Beyoncé because – at least since 2013 – she is notoriously silent. Silence, of course, is a part of the present-day Beyoncé brand. How else would the First Lady of Music, deemed as such by one Clive Davis, flawlessly execute her industry-shifting surprise drops or differentiate herself from the hordes of pop stars bending to the algorithmic whim of TikTok and the like?
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Because Beyoncé says very little – and when she does, it’s normally in a very highly curated setting – we collectively project a lot onto her. And we also take her fans’ musings and theories as something of an extension of her artistic intention and the inner workings of Parkwood Entertainment, her production company. This curious phenomenon – the idea that through her current sting of releases, Beyoncé is “reclaiming” whitewashed genres — ran parallel to the entire Renaissance era, and now it’s trickling into Act II. That idea, however, glosses over the contributions of Black artists who have been holding down these genres before the Renaissance trilogy came to life.
As the entire world knows by now – yes, even that one country radio station out in Oklahoma — Beyoncé used her eye-popping Verizon commercial to launch her new album cycle during the 2024 Super Bowl (Feb. 11). That same night, two new country songs (“Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages”) appeared on digital streaming platforms, alongside a bevy of chatter that Act II would find Beyoncé “reclaiming” country music as a Black genre — just as she did for the Black queer roots of dance music and culture on Act II’s predecessor, the Billboard 200-topping Renaissance.
But nowhere in the note Beyoncé posted to her website before Renaissance dropped in its entirety (Jul. 28, 2022) — which detailed her latest endeavor as a “three-act project,” and delved into her connection to dance music via the impact her late Uncle Johnny had on her life — does Beyoncé say or allude to “reclaiming” dance as a Black genre. Nor is that stated as an explicit intention of Renaissance or any of the subsequent acts. If anything, the note points to a personal and artistic renaissance for the 42-year-old music icon.
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“Creating this album allowed me a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world,” she mused. “It allowed me to feel free and adventurous in a time when little else was moving. My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment, a place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. A place to scream, release, feel freedom. It was a beautiful journey of exploration.”
Of course, it’s relatively easy to turn everything Beyoncé does into a grand political spectacle. Ever since her eponymous 2013 surprise album – and especially since 2016’s Peabody-winning Lemonade – we collectively view Beyoncé’s art through an intensely political lens. That’s not wholly incorrect to do so, and Act II is no different. However, when that lens isn’t informed by a nuanced or comprehensive understanding of contemporary mainstream country music, the contributions of Black artists preceding “Texas Hold ‘Em” can get unfairly muddied. The idea that Beyoncé is single-handedly reclaiming musical genres with white-washed roots presupposes that Black people have been absent from those genres until this three-act project – and that is not the case. While Black artists may not have been directly at the forefront of mainstream dance and country music in recent years, they have been taking up their rightful space and making meaningful strides in their respective fields.
A year before Renaissance lit up dancefloors around the world with sing-along smashes (“Cuff It”) and Miami bass-indebted rump-shakers (“America Has a Problem”), KAYTRANDA became both the first Black and first queer winner of the Grammy Award for best dance/electronic album. Earning the award for Bubba – which topped Billboard’s Dance/Electronic Albums Chart – KAYTRANADA has spent much of the young decade continuing to bridge the worlds of R&B and house, just as Beyoncé would do with Renaissance.
The same year as KAYTRANADA’s historic Grammy win, SAINt JHN – a Guyanese-American producer and singer – earned the top spot on Billboard’s 2020 Year-End Dance/Electronic Songs chart, becoming the first Black artist to do so since Lil Jon in 2014 and the first Black artist to do so unaccompanied. It should also be noted that Renaissance is the third consecutive album by a Black artist to win the best dance/electronic album Grammy; Black Coffee snagged the award in 2022 for his Subconsciously LP.
Renaissance didn’t “reclaim” dance music as a Black genre; Black artists who call that space home were already keeping the spirit of the genre’s originators alive. What Renaissance did do, however, is help educate the masses on where dance music and club culture comes from. Whether via collaboration (Honey Dijon, Syd) or sampling (the “I Feel Love” flip on closer “Summer Renaissance” remains a career highlight), Renaissance was a musical encapsulation of Beyoncé’s artistic aim for this past half-decade: using her platform to highlight, uplift and pay homage to often unsung movers and shakers across genres.
She’s done this in flashes throughout her career, but her vision truly sharpened on The Lion King: The Gift, her compilation soundtrack for the 2019 photorealistic Lion King remake that doubled as a love letter to Afrobeats, which was then only just starting to cross over to the global stage. On that record, which hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200, Beyoncé tapped African talent from across the continent, including artists like Burna Boy, who would go to be a formidable top 40 presence in the following decade (and help bring Afrobeats along with him).
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Should she continue this endeavor with Act II, she will once again be entering a space that – while relatively foreign to her career– boasts a small, but mighty collection of Black artists taking up as much space as they can. Before “Texas Hold ‘Em” made Beyoncé the first Black woman in history to top Hot Country Songs, stars like Darius Rucker (11) and Kane Brown (13), who boast a combined 24 top 10 hits on the chart, have been making noteworthy strides within the contemporary Nashville machine.
In the years immediately following Beyoncé & The Chicks’ controversial 2016 CMAs performance, stars like Mickey Guyton and BRELAND also made great strides for Black artists in Nashville. In 2021, Guyton became both the first Black woman soloist to earn a Grammy nomination in the country field (best country solo performance for “Black Like Me”) as well as the first Black woman to receive a new artist of the year nod at the CMAs. BRELAND, who first exploded onto the scene in 2019 with the “Old Town Road”-evoking country-trap hybrid “My Truck,” has earned six top 40 hits on Hot Country Songs in just four years. Alongside “My Truck,” Blanco Brown’s “The Git Up” — which topped Hot Country Songs and hit the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 – also made a huge impact in 2019.
There’s also an ironic outlier in Tracy Chapman, a cross-generational storyteller who perhaps always fit into the sprawling lineage of country music as proven by the enormous success of Luke Combs’ cover of her seminal “Fast Car.” Thanks to Combs’ take, Chapman became the first Black woman to score a No. 1 at country radio with a solo composition, the first Black songwriter to win song of the year at the CMA Awards.
As evidenced by the historic achievements of “Texas Hold ‘Em” — now also the first country song by a Black woman to reach No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 — progress for Black artists in country music, especially Black women, has been very minimal and very slow. But while many Black female artists have struggled to thrive in country as they may have deserved, they’ve still been present and impactful, and the word “reclamation” erases the strides they made before the launch of Act II. As a billionaire, Beyoncé is effectively an institution, so she can’t really “reclaim” anything. What she can do, however, is pay homage to both her own cultural and familial roots – which, in this context, she first extensively explored on Lemonade standout “Daddy Lessons” — as well as the whitewashed roots of historically Black genres.
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Beyoncé’s presence can start a conversation and keep it going, but a genuine, full-scale reclamation would require a concerted reconfiguration of the industry of each genre she forays into. Beyoncé making a country album won’t magically get more Black female country artists record deals, nor will it magically spur country music awards institutions to nominate and honor Black women while they’re still here. Instead, Beyoncé’s presence can illuminate the other Black women (and men) in country who have been carrying the torches of pioneers Linda Martell and Charley Pride even when things looked far more dire for Black country artists than they do currently.
It’s like she croons in “I’m That Girl,” the opening track on Renaissance, “Touching everything in my plain view/ And everything next to me gets lit up too.” This isn’t reclamation, this is one of the most important entertainers in history using her platform to highlight artists – often those who share some of her social identifiers – who may never experience a fraction of her reach or recognition.
And, for what it’s worth, Beyoncé is already making good on that lyric just two weeks into her country era. Rising country singer Tanner Adell – best known for the spunky “Buckle Bunny” — experienced a 188% increase in official on-demand U.S. streams for her catalog in the weekend following the release of “Texas Hold ‘Em,” according to Luminate. Adell, a Columbia labelmate of Beyoncé’s, has fully leaned into the Beyoncé Country Boom by posting TikToks drawing links between her own music and that of Beyoncé.
During the same period, Martell – the first Black woman to perform at the Grand Ole Opry – saw her catalog streams leap by 275% from the weekend prior. History-making country star and Apple Music Country radio host Rissi Palmer also received a catalog streaming boost of 110%, and catalog streams for Rhiannon Giddens – who plays banjo on “Texas” — jumped by 50%. Even K. Michelle – who, at press time, has less than a handful of country songs available on streaming – saw a significant boost, with her twangy “Tennessee” rising 185% in streams following the release of “Texas Hold ‘Em.”
In an interview with News Channel 5 Nashville, Alice Randall, the first Black woman to co-write a No. 1 country song (Trisha Yearwood’s 1995 hit “XXX’s and OOO’s (An American Girl)”), said: “It’s almost a full-circle moment for me… I almost want to cry. I wanted to see a black woman get to the top of the charts, and I can retire now!”
This is the real power of Beyoncé’s three-act project, and it will likely stand as the biggest example of the trilogy’s impact. It’s all about bringing names like Alice Randall and Tanner Adell and Linda Martell and Rissi Palmer to the forefront, so they can stand alongside Beyoncé’s — in the hopes that once she moves on to the next act, they can remain at the forefront for decades to come.
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up column, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. This week: Beyoncé’s country crossover drives extra attention (and streams) to other Black female country artists, a Stranger Things star is on the verge of a major pop hit and a smash biopic results in a booming Bob Marley catalog.
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Beyoncé’s New Country Era Is Already Lifting Up Other Black Women in the Genre
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When Queen Bey bet that she could break the internet (again) in her hilarious Verizon commercial during the 2024 Super Bowl on Feb. 11, that was a promise. Although Beyoncé has been in her country era for barely a week and a half, she’s already making history – and uplifting other Black women in the genre along the way.
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The music icons two new songs — “Texas Hold ‘Em” (No. 1) and “16 Carriages” (No. 9) — concurrently debuted in the top 10 on Hot Country Songs, making Beyoncé the first Black woman in history to top that chart. While those two songs continue to rack in streams and sales, they’re also serving as gateways for audiences to explore the catalogs of other Black women in country.
According to Luminate, Tanner Adell – who has scored a few minor hits such as “Buckle Bunny” and “Love You a Little Bit” — experienced a 188% increase in streaming activity from the period of Feb. 9-12 (230,000 official on-demand streams) to Feb. 16-19 (670,000 streams). On TikTok, Adell has seamlessly incorporated her love for Beyoncé and anticipation for her forthcoming LP into promotion of her own music. “If you’re waiting on Bey’s country album, you might like me,” she wrote in a Feb. 14 TikTok; the strategy has clearly paid off, as a Feb. 20 TikTok finds the young singer-songwriter celebrating “Buckle Bunny” (also released via Beyoncé’s home label Columbia) flying up the Shazam charts.
Reyna Roberts, perhaps best known for 2020’s “Stompin’ Grounds,” collected around 200,000 official on-demand streams during the period of Feb. 16-19, marking a whopping 250% increase from 57,000 streams during Feb. 9-12. There’s also Billboard chart-topping R&B artist K. Michelle, who is currently prepping a long-awaited debut country album. The Memphis-bred star has released some standalone country songs, including “Tennesse” from last year’s I’m the Problem. That track garnered around 32,000 official on-demand streams during the period of Feb. 9-15, a massive 185% increase from the week prior (11,000 streams, Feb. 2-8).
Of course, any discussion about “Texas Hold ‘Em” is incomplete without mentioning Rhiannon Giddens, the Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist who plays banjo on the track. During the period of Feb. 16-19, Giddens’ catalog collected over 108,000 official on-demand streams, up nearly 50% from 73,000 streams during Feb. 9-12. In the visualizer for “Texas Hold ‘Em,” Beyoncé has her hair in a cross between a beehive and low ponytail, a style often sported by country music legend Linda Martell, the first Black woman to play the Grand Ole Opry. During the period of Feb. 16-19, Martell’s catalog received just over 12,000 official on-demand streams, marking a 275% increase from 3,000 streams during Feb. 9-12. And notably, Martell’s debut album, Color Me Country, provided the name of Rissi Palmer’s Apple Music Country radio show. Palmer – whose “Country Girl” (2007) made her the first Black woman to hit Hot Country Songs since Dona Mason in 1987 – earned over 5,000 official on-demand streams across her discography during the period of Feb. 16-19, a 110% increase from those she amassed Feb. 9-12.
As Beyoncé’s new country era continues to unfold, expect to continue to see gains for Black women across country music. Looks like the Renaissance really isn’t over. — KYLE DENIS
‘Stranger Things’ Have Happened: Joe Keery’s Music Project Has a Burgeoning Smash
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Over the course of his run on the Netflix global hit Stranger Things as the well-coiffed heartthrob Steve Harrington, Joe Keery has simultaneously dabbled in the music space, first as a member of the psych-rock band Post Animal and more recently with the synth-pop solo project Djo. Decide, Keery’s second full-length under the Djo alias, was released independently in September 2022 and featured his strongest writing and song construction to date, albeit with little commercial footprint.
Yet that last part has changed over the past few weeks: “End of Beginning,” a blissed-out mid-tempo anthem from Decide that was never released as a single and hasn’t received any promotional push, has gone viral in early 2024 — and will likely become a breakthrough hit for Djo.
The uptick was started by a TikTok trend, in which users have taken the chorus lyric, “And when I’m back in Chicago, I feel it/ Another version of me, I was in it/ I wave goodbye to the end of beginning” to soundtrack travel clips, either of Chicago or whatever their version of hometown wistfulness might be. “End of Beginning” has fully crossed over from TikTok at this point, though: on Spotify, Djo’s track has entered the top 10 of the U.S. Daily Top 200 and U.S. viral 50, as well as creeping up to No. 16 on Billboard‘s Hot Alternative Songs.
“End of Beginning” was earning hundreds of thousands of weekly streams by mid-January, but the song is skyrocketing in February: from Feb. 16-19, the track earned 5.27 million official on-demand U.S. streams, up more than 200% from the previous four-day tracking period (1.66 million streams from Feb. 9-12), according to Luminate. Keery, who was a scene-stealer in the latest season of Fargo last fall, re-joined the Stranger Things crew in January as production on season 5 began; by the time filming wraps, Keery will likely have the first Hot 100 hit of his career. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
So Much Things to Stream: Bob Marley’s Catalog Explodes With Biopic Debut
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Following Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman, this month’s Bob Marley: One Love becomes the latest biopic of a legendary artist to electrify audiences (even as it divides critics). The movie has already brought in more than $50 million at the box office, setting Valentine’s Day records and exceeding even the most optimistic pre-release projections. And as it brings Marley’s music to a new audience — and reminds older audiences of its greatness — it has also resulted in a massive increase in the reggae icon’s music consumption, particularly on streaming.
Marley’s catalog has actually been on the rise across streaming services for all of 2024, with anticipation for One Love perhaps helping to gradually boost his weekly official on-demand U.S. streaming numbers from around 15 million for the week ending Jan. 11 to nearly 27 million for the week ending Feb. 8, according to Luminate. But Marley’s numbers have of course exploded following the movie’s Feb. 14 release — the movie racked up over 30 million official on-demand U.S. streams in the five-day period following the movie’s release (Feb. 15-19), up 62% from the 19 million it amassed over the five days prior. (The catalog was also up 112% in digital song sales over the same time span, from over 4,000 to nearly 9,000.)
The songs currently doing the best in Marley’s catalog over that period are some of his most famous, including “Three Little Birds” (2.5 million streams, 1,500 sales), “Jamming” (1.9 million streams, 600 sales) and of course, “One Love / People Get Ready” (1.7 million streams, 1,300 sales). Legend, Marley’s RIAA Diamond-certified canonical hits collection, has even re-entered the top 30 of the Billboard 200 as a result of the increase in activity. But another song that continues to benefit from the bump in Marley exposure is from one of Bob’s descendants: “Praise Jah in the Moonlight,” breakout hit from grandson YG Marley, which falls at No. 63 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week. “Praise” garnered 6.5 million streams over that period, up 12% from 5.8 million the previous five-day period. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard Hot 100 dated March 2), Beyoncé’s country crossover leads the pack of challengers setting their sights on the Hot 100’s top spot.
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Beyoncé, “Texas Hold ‘Em” (Parkwood/Columbia/Columbia Nashville): With just four full days of tracking following its Sunday night debut during Super Bowl XVIII (Feb. 11), Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” still amassed enough consumption during its debut week to top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart (dated Feb. 24), making Bey the first Black female artist to ever hit the listing’s apex. It also racked up enough sales, streams and airplay to bow at No. 2 on the Hot 100 this week, landing behind only the most dominant smash hit of early 2024: Jack Harlow’s six-week No. 1 “Lovin on Me.”
In week two, it may have the hole cards to get all the way to the chart’s top. “Hold ‘Em” continues to sell well after debuting atop Digital Song Sales this week, with versions of the song occupying the No. 1 and No. 3 spots on the real-time iTunes chart. It also remains a top contender on streaming, ranking at No. 2 on the daily listings for both Spotify and Apple Music. With a full seven days to put up numbers this week, its consistently strong performance in sales and streams could be enough to push it past “Lovin.”
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Radio could be the deciding factor in the competition. “Lovin” spends its fifth week atop Radio Songs this week, with the song still growing in audience – numbers that have kept the song a weekly No. 1 contender, even as it continues to slide in its sales and streams. But “Hold ‘Em” is also off to a strong start on the airwaves: The song debuts at No. 38 on Pop Airplay and No. 54 on Country Airplay, while rising at both formats, and also advancing at rhythmic, mainstream R&B/hip-hop, adult R&B and adult pop formats as well. If it makes up ground there fast enough, “Hold ‘Em” may end up taking the whole pot next week.
¥$: Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign, “Carnival” (YZY): Bey’s new smash was the Hot 100’s biggest debut last week, but it wasn’t the only new entry in the top five: Landing just one spot lower was Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s new Vultures 1 focus cut “Carnival,” with (unbilled) appearances from Rich the Kid and Playboi Carti. “Carnival,” which also debuted with an incomplete first week after dropping two Saturdays ago (Feb. 10), hasn’t had the sales potency of “Hold ‘Em,” debuting at No. 18 on Digital Song Sales. But it has been a monster on streaming, bowing atop Streaming Songs, and relegating Bey to the runner-up spot on Spotify’s and Apple Music’s daily charts by continuing to lead at both.
But while the recent backlash against Kanye’s latest controversies — including wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt and making repeat antisemitic comments (which he has since issued a public apology for in Hebrew) — don’t seem to have affected his streaming audience, it may continue to dampen his radio support. (“Carnival” is also part of Ye’s first album release as a totally independent artist, meaning he no longer has major label promotion to rely on.) The song has not yet received notable airplay at any major radio format, putting it in a pretty big hole when competing with a certified FM smash like “Lovin” and a growing multi-format hit like “Hold ‘Em.”
Ariana Grande, “Yes, And?” (Republic): Grande’s Eternal Sunshine lead single has already spent one week atop the Hot 100 – though the song did not hang around the chart’s top tier very long, sliding out of the top 10 within just two weeks and currently ranking at No. 31 in its fifth frame. A new remix alongside pop&B predecessor Mariah Carey, which debuted last Friday (Feb. 16), may be just what the song needs to reverse its chart momentum – though it won’t be very likely to get it back in the mix for No. 1, as the new remix has already vacated most major daily streaming and sales charts.
The bigger question (for the Lambily at least) may be about whether the new version racked up enough stats in its first few days to outperform the original for the week, potentially getting Carey added to the official chart listing for the song. We’ll have to see about that next week, though recent history is not particularly on her side: When Carey was added to the remix of Latto’s “Big Energy” (which even interpolated MC’s own “Fantasy”) in 2022, it helped shoot the song into the Hot 100’s top 10 for the first time, but with Latto remaining by her lonesome on the artist credit.
IN THE MIX
Teddy Swims, “Lose Control” (SWIMS Int./Warner): Teddy Swims’ breakthrough-hit-that-could got all the way to No. 2 on the Hot 100 last week before getting lapped by “Hold ‘Em” and “Carnival” this week. Don’t count it out just yet, though: It’s still in the top 10 on Streaming Songs, it’s returned to No. 2 on the iTunes chart, and it continues to grow on the airwaves, climbing 13-12 on Radio Songs this week. It may just be a big remix away from mounting a real charge for Swims’ first Hot 100 No. 1 – one featuring Fat Man Scoop, perhaps?
Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things” (Night Street/Warner): Swims’ Warner labelmate Benson Boone also gets bumped from the Hot 100’s top three this week, but is still holding strong at No. 4, while hanging at No. 2 on Streaming Songs and climbing back into the top 10 on Digital Song Sales. And radio is really starting to kick in for “Beautiful Things”: It’s not on the 40-position Radio Songs chart yet, but it bounds 32-24 on Pop Airplay, and is climbing quickly at both pop and adult formats. If it continues to catch up there, the sky’s the limit for the soaring power ballad.
