Beyoncé has crowned the Billboard charts as soon as once more. Cowboy Carter debuted at No. 1 at the Billboard 200, marking the most important gross sales for an album thus far in 2024, and No. 1 at the Most sensible Nation Albums chart, making Beyoncé the primary Black girl to ever debut on the summit, stories Billboard. That is the 8th time Beyoncé’s had a solo album achieve No. 1 at the Billboard 200 albums chart, too, breaking the former document for a feminine artist to take action – set by means of herself with Renaissance in August 2022.
Cowboy Carter debuted with 407,000 identical album devices earned within the U.S. within the week finishing April 4, in line with Luminate. Of that quantity, 232,000 devices are from streaming (which Billboard notes used to be Beyoncé’s largest streaming week ever), 168,000 are conventional album gross sales, and seven,000 are observe identical albums. All of the ones helped Cowboy Carter scoop up the most efficient gross sales week for a rustic album since closing July, when Taylor Swift’s Discuss Now landed on the best with 716,000 copies.
After teasing the album as Act II with a Verizon business following the Tremendous Bowl LVIII recreation, Beyoncé shared simply two songs from Cowboy Carter: “Texas Hang ’Em” and “16 Carriages.” Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, and Linda Martell make visitor appearances at the album, whilst Miley Cyrus, Submit Malone, and Tanner Adell all sing on tracks. Beyoncé just lately shared the entire listing of credit for Cowboy Carter, which notes further collaborations with Pharrell Williams, Jon Batiste, Nile Rodgers, Raphael Saadiq, Jay-Z, The-Dream, and Ryan Tedder.
Beyoncé covers the Beatles’ “Blackbird” and Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” on Cowboy Carter. Paul McCartney praised her quilt of the 1968 ballad, announcing, “I’m so proud of Beyoncé’s model of my tune ‘Blackbird.’ I feel she does a powerful model of it and it reinforces the civil rights message that impressed me to jot down the tune within the first position.”
Renaissance, the 7th studio album by means of Beyoncé, got here out in July 2022. It used to be at first billed as Act I: Renaissance, implying long term releases would practice swimsuit. Whilst the album by no means were given conventional song movies, there used to be a “cliquebait” clip for “Smash My Soul,” a “logo marketing campaign anthem movie” for Tiffany & Co. that includes “Summer season Renaissance,” and a live performance movie that performed in theaters international. Renaissance: A Movie by means of Beyoncé used to be the No. 1 film within the U.S. all through its debut weekend and, as of January 11, raised over $44.4 million international.
Final yr, Beyoncé broke the document for probably the most Grammys gained by means of an artist within the award display’s historical past after taking house 4 trophies that night time. “Smash My Soul” used to be nominated for Document of the 12 months, Tune of the 12 months, and Very best Dance/Digital Recording on the 2023 Grammy Awards, however Beyoncé simplest gained the latter, inflicting some controversy. At the Cowboy Carter observe “Candy ★ Honey ★ Buckiin,’” she references her storied historical past with the Grammy Awards, making a song, “A-O-T-Y, I ain’t win/I ain’t stuntin’ ‘bout them/Take that shit at the chin.”