Beyoncé officially becomes the first black artist ever to take a country album to Number 1 on the UK’s Official Albums Chart. And in a landmark moment for the genre, Beyonce - an artist who has had an indelible impact on popular music - is also the first artist ever to achieve a UK Official Chart double with a country album and country single.
COWBOY CARTER, the eighth solo album from the superstar, crashes into the Official Albums Chart top spot like a comet with 40,000 chart units, while TEXAS HOLD ‘EM returns to the top of the Official Singles Chart for a fifth non-consecutive week, it’s also the most-streamed track in the UK this week (5.5 million streams).
COWBOY CARTER also topples Kacey Musgraves to become Beyoncé’s first Number 1 album on the Official Country Albums Chart, the ultimate vindication for a project that sought to shine a spotlight on the overlooked contributions of black artists to the country genre, and American culture in general.
Beyoncé follows in the footsteps of Shania Twain who was the first female country artist to score a UK Number 1 album when Come On Over topped the Official Albums Chart in September 1999. Even music icon Dolly Parton, with a country career spanning nearly fifty years, hasn’t yet landed a Number 1 record in the UK.
This is Queen Bey’s second Official Chart double, and first in over 20 years; she previously topped the Official Albums and Singles Charts simultaneously in 2003 with debut solo album Dangerously In Love and the iconic Crazy In Love ft. Jay-Z.
Three of COWBOY CARTER’s tracks are present in the Top 10 of the Official Singles Chart today, which is a career-best showing for Beyoncé; TEXAS HOLD ‘EM (1) is joined by JOLENE (8) and II MOST WANTED with Miley Cyrus (9), bringing Bey’s UK Top 10 singles tally to 24. Beyonce previously managed two simultaneous Top 10 entries on two separate occasions – in 2008 with If I Were A Boy and Listen, and again in 2009 with If I Were A Boy and Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It).
On Beyoncé’s record-breaking Official Chart feat, Martin Talbot, Chief Executive Officer, Official Charts says:
“In a career of huge achievements, congratulations to Beyonce on securing a slew of UK chart records with her country single and album this week, underlining her position as one of the world’s most ground-breaking musical artists.
“With TEXAS HOLD 'EM and COWBOY CARTER, she this week becomes the first artist to top the Official Singles Chart and Official Albums Chart with country repertoire simultaneously, and the first black artist ever to take a country album to Number 1 in the UK. Step aside (for now) Dolly, Bey is the *current* Queen of country.”
Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS – one of 2024’s Official biggest albums so far – lifts one place to Number 2mfollowing the release of its GUTS (spilled) edition, which features five tracks previously unavailable digitally.
Oxford rock outfit Ride earn their fourth Official Top 10 album across a career spanning 36 years with Interplay (8). The seventh studio collection from Andy Bell, Mark Gardener, Steve Queralt and Loz Colbert joins 1992’s Going Blank Again (5), 1994 release Carnival Of Light (5) and 2019’s This Is Not A Safe Place (7) in their tally of Top 10s.
Heaven x Hell, the eighth and final studio album from Canadian rockers Sum 41, earns the group their highest-charting LP in eight years this week (26). Previously, Deryck Whibley, Dave Baksh, Jason McCaslin, Tom Thacker and Frank Zummo enjoyed Top 40 success with 2001 debut All Killer, No Filler (5), 2002’s Does This Look Infected? (39), 2016 record 13 Voices (16) and 2019’s Order In Decline (29).
Finally, it’s a solo career-best for BTS star j-hope (born Jung Ho-seok), who celebrates his first Top 40 album with HOPE ON THE STREET VOL.1 at Number 38. The K-pop idol's solo debut Jack In The Box peaked at Number 67 on its release in 2022.
