(July 29, 2025) – Beyoncé just wrapped her historic 32-show, 9-city Cowboy Carter tour—now officially Billboard’s highest-grossing country trek in Boxscore history. While not all acts report earnings to Billboard (notably Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift), Beyoncé’s achievement still stands tall: Cowboy Carter is also the fastest tour in any genre to hit $400 million—doing so in just 90 days.
She’s also the only woman and the first American of any configuration (male, female, duo, group) to have two tours register more than $400M after the 2023 Renaissance world tour did the same ($579.8 million). Again, all these figures only include artists who report their grosses to Billboard.
Fans and critics alike recognize Cowboy Carter as the country-themed counterpart to 2022’s Renaissance, her ode to dance music. Together, they formed the first two installments of a genre-bending trilogy, with the third widely expected to pivot to rock.
And that next album — the rock and roll one — is the set whose expected timing couldn’t be more perfect. If the rock album arrives later this year or in early 2026, it would qualify for the 2027 Grammy cycle. If history repeats, it could make Beyoncé the only artist to win genre-specific honors in dance, country, and rock (to go along with her R&B, rap, and pop accolades). As a refresher, Renaissance won best dance/electronic album in 2023, while Cowboy Carter claimed best country album—and the all-genre Album of the Year—earlier this year, giving her a record-extending 35th Grammy.
But the next album’s timing could do more than score awards—it would coincide with Beyoncé’s first year of eligibility for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Per the Hall’s 25-year rule, her solo career clock started in 2002 with songs like “Work It Out” (from the Austin Powers in Goldmember movie in which she starred) and her feature on Jay-Z’s “’03 Bonnie & Clyde.” Her first full-length album — Dangerously In Love — hit stores in 2003.
Back to the present day, only a few months transpired after Bey closed the Renaissance era before she opened the Cowboy Carter chapter of the planned trilogy. Similarly, if she follows the same timeline, the rock-and-roll chapter could begin with an album release before Christmas. That would place it firmly in the 2027 Grammy Awards season and foreshadow what would likely be a first-ballot RRHOF nomination for the singer whose induction is a foregone conclusion. The Grammys usually occur in late January or early February while the Rock Hall nominations typically happen a week or so later. The official Class of 2025 induction list was unveiled in April this year.
Of course, Beyoncé doesn’t really need a rock album to secure a spot in the Hall. She was the best-selling female artist of the 2000s and was recently named Billboard’s top female pop artist of the 21st century. Her genre-defying résumé includes chart dominance in pop, R&B, hip-hop, dance, and now country—an unprecedented legacy by any measure. Plus she’s dabbled in rock music on previous albums — most notably on Lemonade and the rock-Grammy nominated “Don’t Hurt Yourself,” featuring Jack White.
She’s arguably done more for music than any of her contemporaries — male or female. And the rock hall has already shown a penchant for including pop, R&B and hip-hop artists who don’t fall squarely into the rock-and-roll genre. Beyoncé has thrived in all of those arenas — and others — ever since she first stepped out as a solo singer in the early aughts.
Still, if there’s one thing Beyoncé has mastered, it’s timing. A well-placed rock album would go a long way toward removing lingering doubts (assuming there are any) about her Hall credentials—perhaps even less controversially so than Cowboy Carter did for her pivot to country. It’s hard to imagine the “Daddy Lessons” singer getting a colder reception in rock circles than she did in Nashville. And now with that chapter of the trilogy being closed, the rock stage is set.
Mark it down: Trilogy, Part Three is coming. Beyoncé’s rock era is poised to crash the charts, grab Grammys, and cement her legacy with a first-ballot Rock Hall induction. All that’s left now is the album drop.
— 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 Bluesky at @djrobblog.bsky.social, X (formerly Twitter) at @djrobblog, on Facebook or on Meta’s Threads.
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