“Texas Hold ‘Em” tops the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart
Beyoncé has two country hits with the release of “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em.” Both songs, released on February 11th via a partnership with Verizon that aired during the Super Bowl, appear on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, dated February 24th. “Texas Hold ‘Em” becomes the global superstar’s 11th No. 1 overall and her highest-debuting single while “16 Carriages” slides into the No. 9 slot.
Both songs also appear on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 with “Texas Hold ‘Em” coming in at No. 2 and “16 Carriages at No. 38 for the same Luminate tracking period. “Texas Hold ‘Em” also debuted at No. 38 on the Billboard Pop Airplay chart.
“Texas Hold ‘Em” scored 19.2 million official streams and 4.8 million in all-format airplay, according to Luminate. The track sold 39,000 copies in the US through February 15th. “16 Carriages” drew in 10.3 million streams, with 90,000 radio plays and 14,000 tracks sold.
According to Billboard, “Texas Hold ‘Em” marks the R&B and rap superstar’s seventh appearance across the publication’s multi-metric songs chart as a solo artist. Beyoncé has now topped the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Hot Gospel Songs, Hot Latin Songs, Hot R&B Songs, and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts, marking the only artist to accomplish the feat.
The Houston-born singer/songwriter joins the ranks of Morgan Wallen, Justin Bieber, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Ray Charles in topping both Billboard’s Hot Country Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts, becoming the first woman to do so. Beyoncé joins Taylor Swift as the only female artist to debut at the top of the Hot Country Songs chart with a solo song, according to the X account @chartdata. She’s also the first black female artist to debut at the top of the chart.
The song was initially serviced only to R&B and pop stations upon its release. However, Columbia Nashville began officially promoting the song to country radio on Valentine’s Day after controversy began to surface, causing the song to earn an audience impression of 1.1 million and premiering on the Billboard Country Airplay chart at 54.
“16 Carriages” was composed by Dave Hamelin and Atia Boggs. “Texas Hold ‘Em” was written by Elizabeth Lowell Boland and features Rhiannon Giddens on banjo and viola. Both tracks were produced by veteran producer Raphael Saadiq along with Solange Knowles and will appear on the country-flavored Renaissance: Act II, due March 29th via Parkwood Entertainment/Sony Music.
