July 25, 2024). It appears that Queen B has reentered the political arena — albeit subtly — by allowing vice president Kamala Harris to use the song “Freedom” (from Bey’s 2016 magnum opus Lemonade) as walk-on music during a speech Monday (July 22) in which Harris essentially accepted the torch from President Joe Biden as this year’s presumptive Democratic presidential nominee against Republican Donald Trump.
But it was just four months ago that the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer was promoting something more personal: Cowboy Carter, the historic album that made her the first Black woman to top the country album charts and the first Black person — regardless of gender — to top both the pop and country singles charts (with “Hold ‘Em”).
Cowboy Carter immediately debuted at No. 1 in April by moving more than 400,000 album equivalent units in its first week; meanwhile 23 of its 27 tracks were scattered all over the Hot 100 — the most Beyoncé had ever charted in a week simultaneously.
Just under four months later, not one song from Cowboy Carter remains on the Billboard Hot 100. “Texas Hold ‘Em” — the first and last song to grace the list — exited the chart three weeks ago. Its run spanned only 20 weeks, a low duration for No. 1 songs this century. Case in point: only two of this year’s fourteen No. 1 songs fell off the chart quicker than “Hold ‘Em,” and both of those — Megan Thee Stallion’s “Hiss” and “Carnival” by Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign — were rap tunes.
What’s equally unremarkable: Cowboy Carter currently rests at No. 67 on the Billboard 200 album chart, after only 16 weeks of availability.
By contrast, Bey’s previous album, Renaissance, was still in the top 20 (at No. 15) during its 16th week in November 2022 after having just exited the top ten a week earlier.
In full disclosure, Cowboy Carter had a brief return to the top ten just two weeks ago — at No. 10 — after its vinyl edition was finally made available to consumers. But even that wasn’t enough to sustain it and the LP has plummeted to No. 67 just a fortnight later, which begs the question: what’s happening with Cowboy Carter?
No promotion
The short answer is promotion, or the lack thereof. After the initial buzz surrounding the album’s release and its history-making debut atop both the country and pop charts, Bey has pretty much remained out of the spotlight.
Aside from “Texas Hold ‘Em,” no other singles have been promoted as follow-ups, despite there being several strong contenders, including fan favorite “Bodyguard,” which could’ve been a big hit with the right marketing and video behind it.
Speaking of videos, there have been none released for the songs on Cowboy Carter, which, in keeping with Bey’s Renaissance marketing approach, has apparently been eschewed in the TikTok era where fan-generated video shorts create just as much or even more exposure for a song than an artist’s official video might. This is in stark contrast to Beyoncé’s previous marketing campaigns, during which some of the “Formation” singer’s entire albums received video treatment.
But it’s the lack of a second single that’s really limiting Cowboy Carter’s potential on the charts. Even its predecessor Renaissance had a second single promoted by the label, “Cuff It,” which followed “Break My Soul” to the Hot 100’s top ten and kept Renaissance in the top 30 of the album chart well into its sixth month of release.
Radio Confused
Another reason for Cowboy Carter’s quick descent might be its marketability. The album has been largely touted as a country one but Beyoncé made it a point to dismiss the country label, referring to it as a “Beyoncé album” on the eve of its release.
Either way, country radio programmers — already reluctant to add Bey to their playlists — allowed “Texas Hold ‘Em” to get no higher than No. 33 on the Billboard country airplay chart (the record topped Hot Country Songs by virtue of streaming and sales activity). Similarly, none of the other songs on Cowboy Carter received more than negligible airplay at country radio.
Meanwhile, pop and R&B radio gave “Texas Hold ‘Em” a warmer, albeit still tepid, reception. The song peaked at No. 7 on Pop Airplay and No. 19 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (while being deemed ineligible for Billboard’s corresponding Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart which factors airplay in with sales and streaming to give an overall ranking). Billboard, without explicitly saying so, determined the song was too country for the R&B/Hip-Hop composite list.
The hype around “Texas Hold ‘Em” likely forced programmers’ hands when it came to adding the song to their playlists. Regarding the album’s other tunes, some of which were decidedly more country-leaning than “Hold ‘Em,” the initial buzz quickly died down and programmers weren’t as compelled to show the songs love (they likely weren’t testing as well with genre-specific audiences anyway).
All of this ambiguity around Cowboy Carter’s genre placement no doubt created confusion for radio programmers, despite fans of multiple types clearly having a favorable reaction to the album based on its early streaming success. Without sustained radio support, however, the album lost its momentum and has tanked in recent months.
Bigger headlines took over
Cowboy Carter garnered all the attention upon its launch but was quickly overshadowed by even bigger headlines in the weeks following its debut. First there was the release of Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, which sold 2.6 million album equivalent units in its first week, more than any album in nearly nine years.
Then this year’s rap wars — primarily between Kendrick Lamar and Drake — took over music headlines with Lamar’s “Not Like Us” emerging as a No. 1 summer anthem. The back-and-forth diss track releases between the two rappers that culminated in “Not Like Us” kept bloggers and social media preoccupied for weeks, essentially ignoring what were supposed to be the year’s two biggest musical events: the albums by Beyoncé and Swift (although Swift, who is still touring and making headlines, was undaunted).
And finally, country music got two bigger anthems than “Texas Hold ‘Em.” First, Post Malone and Morgan Wallen’s “I Had Some Help” stormed onto the charts at No. 1 and became the longest running Hot 100 No. 1 so far in 2024. Then Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” eventually eclipsed “I Had Some Help” to become the first song by a Black male to top both the Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs charts, matching Beyoncé’s feat from just a few months earlier.
The race factor?
While it would be easy to target race as a reason for Beyoncé’s quick burnout with Cowboy Carter, particularly at country radio, it wouldn’t tell the whole story. Yes, country radio initially eschewed “Texas Hold ‘Em,” but it has fully embraced Shaboozey, the 29-year-old upstart country singer/rapper from Woodbridge, VA who initially gained exposure as Beyoncé’s featured act on two Cowboy Cartertracks: “Spaghettii,” featuring Linda Martell — the first Black woman to have a top-30 country hit half a century ago — and “Sweet Honey Buckiin.”
Shaboozey’s own “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” is the third-most played song at country radio right now (behind two Morgan Wallen tunes) and, in a show of resilience, the song returned to No. 1 on the Hot 100 (and remains atop Hot Country Songs) again this week as it enjoys top-10 airplay at multiple other radio formats, including pop, rhythmic, and adult pop.
The irony in Shaboozey’s multi-genre success is that he likely wouldn’t have had it were it not for his two appearances on Cowboy Carter, which itself has gone dormant at all radio formats.
Incidentally, “A Bar Song” first topped the Hot 100 in the same week that “Texas Hold ‘Em” exited the list, just days after Shaboozey memorably performed his hit at the 2024 BET Awards (where Beyoncé was absent) in a mashup with J-Kwon’s “Tipsy,” the 2004 rap classic that “A Bar Song” interpolates.
While race cannot be ignored given country music’s history, it’s quite possible that the dreadlocked Shaboozey, who was born Collins Obinna Chibueze in Fairfax, VA, has been seen as a better “new” ambassador for country music — regardless of race — than Beyoncé, whose 27 years of professional recording and larger-than-life persona represent a brand and a history that loom too large for country fans to embrace.
In a way, those fans could legitimately claim the previously unknown Shaboozey as one of their own — even try to mold him as such — not so much so with Bey whose iconic, “elite Hollywood” status and well-known social and political views already don’t sit well with many country music fans.
Bey’s stance on charts and sales.
But the biggest factor — and the likely reason for its lack of promotion — could be the legendary artist’s longstanding stance on charts and sales, which she reiterated in a June statement given to The Hollywood Reporter.
“There was a time in my life when charts and sales excited and motivated me. Once you have challenged yourself and poured every ounce of your life, your pain, your growth, and your dreams into your art, it’s impossible to go backward,” Beyoncé stated. “I’m very grateful and humbled for the extraordinary success of the new album.”
She added that she was more motivated by seeing country artists like Shaboozey and some of the female artists she featured on Cowboy Carter achieve success. “When you are breaking down barriers, not everyone is ready and open for a shift. But when I see Shaboozey tearing the charts up and all the beautiful female country singers flying to new heights, inspiring the world, that is exactly what motivates me,” Beyoncé told the publication.
With all of that said, Cowboy Carter is no failure. The album has sold more than a million album equivalent units in four months, making it one of the year’s seven biggest sellers so far. It’s currently estimated to be tacking on about 15,000 units per week with its placement just below the top 50 on the Billboard 200.
Those numbers would be considered good for an average artist four months into an album cycle. But for an artist of Beyoncé’s stature and an album that was arguably her biggest career statement yet, especially one as critically acclaimed as this one was upon its release, Cowboy Carter is clearly underperforming.
But then, what else does Beyoncé have to prove at this point?
DJRob
DJRob (he/him) is a freelance music blogger from the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, disco, pop, rock and country genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff! You can follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @djrobblog and on Meta’s Threads.
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