Beyoncé has once more etched her name in history, being the inaugural Black female artist to clinch a No. 1 country song, as affirmed by Billboard on Tuesday.
Merely a tad over a week following its release, “Texas Hold ‘Em” ascended to the summit of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart at No. 1, while “16 Carriages” secured the 9th spot.
The renowned R&B and hip-hop luminary, hailing from Texas, is redefining a genre deeply rooted in Black musical traditions and instruments, yet one that has historically marginalized Black artists, particularly Black women.
The two singles, revealed on February 11, were unveiled via a Super Bowl commercial, teasing Beyoncé’s forthcoming album—a follow-up to her 2022 release, “Renaissance”—set to debut in March.
Billboard disclosed on Wednesday that she is additionally the pioneer woman to dominate both Billboard’s Hot Country Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs since the inception of the charts in 1958.
“Black people and brown people have always had an interest in country music — they’ve always played it and always enjoyed it,” Amanda Marie Martinez, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, told in 2020.
Prominent country instruments, such as the fiddle and the banjo, were primarily played by enslaved African people and later integrated into music performed by white Southern artists, according to Martinez, a scholar who has extensively researched country and race.
Despite this history, early 20th-century country radio stations predominantly showcased white artists, contributing to their dominance in the genre.In recent decades, as both the genre and its audience have diversified, artists like Rissi Palmer and Mickey Guyton have been advocating for increased visibility for Black country musicians.
Many anticipate that Beyoncé’s forthcoming country album will challenge and reshape the cultural perception of what it means to be a country artist.
