Beyonce's Country Hits Raising Profiles Of Other Artists Of Color

Beyonce

Superstar singer-songwriter Beyoncé Knowles is foraying into country music — taking on a genre that has excluded women of color for decades and in the process proving its listeners have a strong interest in Black female artists. Her country music era, launched during a Super Bowl ad in mid-February and headlined by an upcoming album, is broadening the industry’s listenership and igniting streaming numbers for songs by other Black female country artists.

Country star Tanner Adell, a Black artist, saw U.S. streams of her track “Buckle Bunny” soar 305% during the first week of March, according to CNBC citing data from Spotify

Another song from Adell, “Trailer Park Barbie,” saw a 130% jump in streams, the music streaming company said.

Other Black female country artists like Mickey Guyton and Reyna Roberts saw boosts too, and Knowles’ own country-esque song “Daddy Lessons,” off her sixth studio pop album, “Lemonade,” spiked 540% in streams the day after her two country singles were released last month, Spotify reported.

“Texas Hold ’Em,” one of those singles, made her the first Black woman to claim the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot Country chart, according to the famed music magazine.

That song and her second recent country hit, “16 Carriages,” will appear on “Act II: Cowboy Carter.” Knowles announced the album title in a Tuesday post on her website. It follows “Act I: Renaissance” and serves as the second installment to a three-part project.

Knowles’ album announcement was a “pinnacle moment in time,” according to The New York Times bestselling author, country songwriter and lecturer Alice Randall, who was the first Black woman to write a No.1 song for an artist on the Hot Country chart, back in 1994.

“Beyoncé is signaling that Black women have been in country music almost since the beginning,” Randall said. “We have finally broken through the redlining that kept us out of the charts.”

Acceptance for artists of color in country music remains a challenge, though, — even for Knowles, whose recorded songs are mostly categorized as pop and R&B.

Political tensions have flared in the country music industry for decades, as newer and more liberal artists try to transition away from the genre’s “conservative” roots, Neal said. The genre’s fan base has long skewed conservative, she said.

Knowles — along with superstar Taylor Swift, who both had mega years in 2023 — received a higher percentage of negative ratings from registered Republicans than any other demographic of voters, across political affiliation, race and age, according to an NBC News poll. Of voters polled, 34% had a negative stance on Knowles, while 16% had a positive view. More than 40% of Republicans were neutral. Among registered Democrats who were polled, just 5% had a negative stance on Knowles and more than half had a positive view.