Beyonce's eighth #1, as her country album tops Billboard chart

New York: Beyonce's popular country album "Cowboy Carter" is now number one on the Billboard 200 chart, marking the eighth number-one album in her illustrious career.

With the 27-track second act of her "Renaissance" trilogy, she also made history by being the first Black woman to reach the top of Billboard's Top Country Albums chart.

As of the week ending April 4, "Cowboy Carter," which was released on March 29, had earned 407,000 equivalent album units in the US, according to Billboard and music industry analytics source Luminate, AFP reported.

A raucous, all-encompassing tribute to Beyonce's southern roots, "Cowboy Carter" stars a wide range of musicians, from current hitsters Miley Cyrus and Post Malone to country greats Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson.

Parton introduces the album's rendition of "Jolene," comparing Beyonce's personalised version of the song with her own original story of a lover afraid of betrayal. She also appears alongside Nelson as a radio DJs of a fictional broadcast.

Critics have praised the record, which was already the "most-streamed album in a single day in 2024 so far" on Spotify.

Nashville's gatekeepers have long attempted to advance a rigid, predominantly white, male vision of country music.

Beyonce, however, dispels that idea by taking listeners through the evolution of country music from African American spirituals and fiddle tunes.

"Texas Hold 'Em" and "16 Carriages," the album's first two singles, were released by her during the Super Bowl in February, where she announced the album's whole release date.

She also performed "Blackbiird," a Beatles song by Paul McCartney, stylised with a double-i spelling to match with "Act II."

"I think she does a magnificent version of it and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place," McCartney said in a statement when the album debuted.

Beyonce previously topped the Billboard charts with "Dangerously in Love" (2003), "B'Day" (2006), "I Am... Sasha Fierce" (2008), "4" (2011), "Beyonce" (2013), "Lemonade" (2016) and "Renaissance" (2022).

According to Billboard, Swift, Barbra Streisand, and Madonna are the only women with more number ones.