Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ Tops Billboard 200 for Second Week

Beyoncé’s new album, Cowboy Carter, is ground tied at No. 1 for a second week on the Billboard 200 chart.

According to Billboard, Cowboy Carter sold 128,000 equivalent units in week two, a 69% drop from its first-week sales. The album debuted atop the chart with 407,000 equivalent units. 

With Cowboy Carter at No. 1 for a second week, it becomes Beyoncé’s longest-running chart-topper since her 2013 self-titled album, which spent three weeks atop the Billboard 200.

Elsewhere on Billboard, the album reigns at No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums, Americana/Folk Albums, and Top Country Albums. Beyoncé made history on the latter chart as the first Black woman to reach No. 1.

“Texas Hold ‘Em,” the album’s lead single, continues to perform strongly across multiple Billboard charts. The boot-stomping track is No. 5 on the Hot 100 this week. It previously topped the chart in February, tallying Beyoncé’s ninth No. 1 hit. 

On the Top Country Songs chart, “Texas” remains untouched from No. 1 for a ninth week.

Here’s a breakdown of the other charts “Texas Hold ‘Em” occupies this week:

• Hot Country Songs: No. 1 for nine weeks
• Country Digital Song Sales: No. 1 for nine weeks
• Country Streaming Songs: No. 1 for four weeks
• Digital Song Sales: No. 4 (No. 1 peak)
• Radio Songs: No. 6 (peak)
• Streaming Songs: No. 7 (No. 1 peak)
• Pop Airplay: No. 7 (peak)
• Adult Pop Airplay: No. 7 (peak)
• Adult R&B Airplay: No. 16 (No. 14 peak)
• Adult Contemporary: No. 23 (No. 22 peak)
• R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay: No. 26 (No. 19 peak)
• Country Airplay: No. 37 (No. 33 peak)

Cowboy Carter was released March 29 via Parkwood Entertainment/Columbia Records.

The 27-track album boasts appearances by Brittany Spencer, Dolly Parton, Linda Martell, Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Reyna Roberts, Rumi Carter, Tanner Adell, Shaboozey, Tiera Kennedy, and Willie Nelson.

Further, Cowboy Carter includes writing and production by The-Dream, Pharrell Williams, Raphael Saadiq, Swizz Beatz, NO I.D., Leven Kali, DIXSON, Nova Wav and others.

“The joy of creating music is that there are no rules. The more I see the world evolving the more I felt a deeper connection to purity,” said Beyoncé. “With artificial intelligence and digital filters and programming, I wanted to go back to real instruments, and I used very old ones. I didn’t want some layers of instruments like strings, especially guitars, and organs perfectly in tune. I kept some songs raw and leaned into folk. All the sounds were so organic and human, everyday things like the wind, snaps and even the sound of birds and chickens, the sounds of nature.”

Beyoncé added, “This album took over five years. It’s been really great to have the time and the grace to be able to take my time with it. I was initially going to put Cowboy Carter out first, but with the pandemic, there was too much heaviness in the world. We wanted to dance. We deserved to dance. But I had to trust God’s timing.”

Instead of releasing Cowboy Carter first, Beyoncé dropped Renaissance in 2022 as the first act of her three-act project. The platinum-selling album scored Beyoncé the following Grammys: Best Dance/Electronic Music Album, Best R&B Song (“Cuff It“), Best Traditional R&B Performance (“Plastic Off the Sofa“), and Best Dance/Electronic Recording (“Break My Soul“).