Beyoncé Becomes First Black Woman to Top Billboard Country Album Chart

Beyoncé has become the first Black woman to top Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart with her new album, COWBOY CARTER.

The album has also debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with the biggest week of 2024, marking her eighth entry atop the chart. In doing so, Beyoncé knocked Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time and Future and Metro Boomin’s We Don’t Trust You from their respective positions on the Top Country Albums and Billboard 200 charts.

Per Billboard, COWBOY CARTER racked up 407,000 equivalent album units, the most since Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) moved 1.653 million last fall. This included 300 million on-demand streams and 168,000 traditional album sales.

While Beyoncé is the first Black woman to reign over the Top Country Albums chart, other Black artists such as Charlie Pride, Darius Rucker, and Kane Brown previously went to No. 1 on the chart.

In February, Beyoncé made similar history as the first Black woman to top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart with the COWBOY CARTER single “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM.”

Besides contributions from country legends like Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson, COWBOY CARTER pays tribute to Linda Martell, the first solo Black woman country artist to play the Grand Ole Opry.

Ahead of the album’s release, Beyoncé revealed it was inspired by “an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed” — likely referring to her performance of “Daddy Lessons” with The Chicks at the 2016 CMA Awards. Now, her presence can’t be denied — whether the country establishment likes it or not.

Read our review of COWBOY CARTER here.