On Sunday, April 7, Billboard named Cowboy Carter the No. 1 album on its Top Country Albums chart.
It became her eighth project to also top the Billboard 200.
On March 29, Beyoncé officially embraced the country genre with her eighth studio album - and her first country - that served as the second installment in her trilogy project after Renaissance.
Beyoncé Makes History on Billboard
According Billboard, with the new record, Beyoncé ultimately became the first Black woman to ever top the chart. She dethroned Morgan Wallen and his album, One Thing At a Time, while surpassing Future and Metro Boomin's We Don't Trust You on the Top Album list.
In addition, Rolling Stone noted Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter record as the biggest album debut of 2024. The same country album also bested the songstress' previous biggest opening debut in 2016 with Lemonade.
Beyoncé's record followed Black artists who topped the Country Albums chart over the decades: Charlie Pride, Kane Brown and Darius Rucker. The "TEXAS HOLD 'EM" singer became the first Black woman to ever achieve the record.
Cowboy Carter featured a long list of musicians, including Rumi Carter, Miley Cyrus, Willie Jones, Tanner Adell, Linda Martell, Britney Spencer, Post Malone, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Shaboozey, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts.
Billboard recorded Beyoncé's historic feats based on the data released by Luminate.
Beyoncé Had a Different Plan for "Cowboy Carter"
Prior to the release of her 27-track album, Beyoncé wrote in a press release that Cowboy Carter was supposed to arrive before Renaissance.
"This album took over five years," she said, per Variety. "It's been really great to have the time and the grace to be able to take my time with it. I was initially going to put 'Cowboy Carter' out first, but with the pandemic, there was too much heaviness in the world. We wanted to dance. We deserved to dance. But I had to trust God's timing."
She added that her song, "Carter," was inspired by a different Western film. She reportedly gave herself the chance to experiment while enjoying the freedom "to get all aspects of things" she loves.
Beyoncé declared "Carter" as her "finest work."
© 2024 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
