She is called the queen for a reason. Beyonce is back in the news and ruling the charts with her new song Texas Hold Em. In fact, on Wednesday, Beyonce became the first Black woman to top the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts with her latest track.
Her song was released on February 11, during the Super Bowl, and instantly debuted at the top of the Hot Country Songs chart. This isn’t the first time that Beyonce’s song has topped the Billboard charts but what makes it special is that she has topped the Hot 100 charts for the eighth time in her starry career as a solo artist.
Her forthcoming album – 16 Carriages – has secured the Number 9 spot on the country music chart.
Texas Hold Em sits tight on its debuting position No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, right above Kanye West and Ty Dollar $ign’s brand-new song Carnival. Beyonce’s 16 Carriages grabbed the 38th spot on the Hot 100.
About the track Texas Hold Em
The new Beyonce song is the lead single of her upcoming album, which is a full-fledged country collection. Scheduled to release on March 29, the album has been proclaimed the ‘Act II’ of the three-act music project that started with the 2022 masterpiece, Renaissance album. Texas Hold Em has been particularly praised for reclaiming country music’s Black roots.
Controversy around Texas Hold Em
While the new track is topping charts it was also shrouded in controversy when the country radio station KYKC rejected a request to play it. Its general manager, Roger Harris, denied the request, stating that they don’t play Beyonce because they are a country music station. Beyonce is known to be a R&B legend.
Harris’ reply went viral, launching a new X (formerly Twitter) trend, #Beyonceiscountry. A spokesperson of the station eventually clarified that they had no idea the song had country inclinations.
In addition to topping the country charts, Beyonce is the first woman to lead the R&B/ hip-hop charts since the genre charts were instituted in 1958. She was also the only second woman to debut at the No 1 country song spot- the other being Taylor Swift.