Originally appeared on E! Online
It's a real-life boogie and a real-life hoedown for Beyoncé.
After all, the 32-time Grammy winner became the first-ever Black female artist to top Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart for her new single "Texas Hold ‘Em" on Feb. 20.
Her recent accolade comes less than two weeks after she announced her country era with her newest album, Act II, during the 2024 Super Bowl, which will be released March 29. The 42-year-old also dropped "16 Carriages," which debuted at No. 9 on the Hot Country Song charts.
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"Texas Hold 'Em" — which dethroned Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves' "I Remember Everything" after 20 weeks at No. 1 — drew 19.2 million official streams and 4.8 million in all-format airplay audience and sold 39,000 in the U.S. through Feb. 15, according to Luminate.
The only other solo woman with no accompanying artists to launch at the top of the chart was Taylor Swift with "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" and "All Too Well (Taylor's Version)" in 2021.
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And while the Beyhive couldn't help but throw their cowboy hats in the air, Beyoncé's genre shift hasn't been without debate. Some fans hope that the "XO" singer's star power will highlight cowboy culture and country music's deep roots in African American culture, which has been dominated by white artists. And mom Tina Knowles made sure to point out how the Grammy winner grew up celebrating the culture in Texas.
"We also always understood that it was not just about it belonging to White culture only," Tina wrote on Instagram Feb. 17. "In Texas there is a huge black cowboy culture. Why do you think that my kids have integrated it into their fashion and art since the beginning."
As she put it: "It definitely was a part of our culture growing up."
Beyoncé's country music recognition is just the most recent example of the singer's record-breaking career. In 2021, she became the most decorated singer ever and the most-winning female artist in history at the Grammy Awards. And in 2023, she upped the ante by breaking the record for the most Grammys ever won by a single artist at the event.
