Beyoncé turns into first Black lady to prime nation charts with “Texas Maintain ‘Em”

Beyoncé on Wednesday grew to become the primary Black lady to attain a No. 1 hit within the historical past of Billboard’s Scorching Nation Songs, after “Texas Maintain ‘Em” debuted on the prime of the chart.

“Texas Maintain ‘Em,” a twangy, feel-good ode to the pop celebrity’s residence state, and the lead single off her forthcoming eighth studio album, dropped in the course of the Tremendous Bowl, alongside one other observe titled “16 Carriages,” instantly after a Verizon business starring Beyoncé.

The brand new album, which seems to be nation, can be launched on March 29 and was described as “act ii” of the three-act challenge that started with Beyoncé’s critically acclaimed “Renaissance” album, which she launched in 2022.

Wednesday’s milestone marked a cultural shift for nation music, a style typically seen as unique and that for many years has had a fraught relationship with artists of colour. With “Texas Maintain ‘Em,” Beyoncé lastly trumped the file set by Linda Martell greater than 50 years in the past, when her music “Coloration Him Father,” which peaked at No. 22, grew to become the highest-ranking single by a Black lady on the nation charts, based on Billboard.

Beyoncé additionally grew to become the primary lady to have topped each the nation and R&B/hip-hop charts because the style music charts have been launched in 1958, Billboard reported, including that she joins Morgan Wallen, Justin Bieber, Billy Ray Cyrus and Ray Charles as the one acts to have led each charts.

“Texas Maintain ‘Em” additionally debuted at No. 2 on the Scorching 100 chart, proper beneath Jack Harlow’s “Lovin on Me” and proper above Kanye West and Ty Greenback $ign’s new music “Carnival.” It marks her twenty second top-ten single on the overall charts, Billboard reported, signaling no finish in sight to the singer’s adventurous, indefatigable and, by most accounts, legendary 27-year profession.

Beyoncé’s daring foray into nation nearly instantly sparked controversy, after KYKC-FM, a rustic radio radio station in Oklahoma, initially declined to play the artist. The station supervisor later informed CBS Information he hadn’t recognized Beyoncé had launched two nation songs and confirmed he had added “Texas Maintain ‘Em” to the station’s playlist.

“We’ve got at all times celebrated Cowboy Tradition rising up in Texas,” Tina Knowles, Beyoncé’s mom, wrote on Instagram alongside a montage of Beyoncé through the years carrying cowboy hats, responding to allegations the singer had made an abrupt or exploitative style soar.

“We additionally at all times understood that it was not nearly it belonging to White tradition solely. In Texas there’s a large Black cowboy tradition,” Tina Knowles added, noting that she had taken Beyoncé and her sister Solange to rodeos yearly once they have been youngsters, adorned in Western clothes. “It was undoubtedly a part of our tradition rising up.”