'Cowboy Carter' Debuts At No 1 On Billboard 200 Album Chart

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter gallops in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated April 13), debuting with 407,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending April 4, according to Luminate. It’s the superstar’s eighth No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200.

With 407,000 units earned, Cowboy Carter claims the biggest week of 2024 and the largest since Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) bowed with 1.653 million units on the Nov. 11, 2023-dated list. Cowboy Carter’s launch is also Beyoncé’s biggest week, by units, since her Lemonade album debuted at No. 1 with 653,000 units (mostly from traditional album sales) on the May 14, 2016, chart. The new effort also lands Beyoncé her biggest streaming week ever.

Cowboy Carter also launches at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums, Americana/Folk Albums and Top Album Sales charts. She’s the first Black woman ever to have led the Top Country Albums list, dating to its January 1964 inception. Cowboy Carter also claims the biggest week for a country album, by units earned, since last July, when Taylor Swift’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), opened at No. 1 on the July 22, 2023 chart with 716,000 units.

Cowboy Carter was introduced by the singles “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages,” which were released during the Super Bowl festivities on Feb. 11. The tracks debuted and have peaked (through the charts dated April 6) at Nos. 1 and 9, respectively, on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, marking Beyoncé’s first entries on the tally. They have also reached Nos. 1, for two weeks, and 38 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 songs chart.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. 

Cowboy Carter marks Beyoncé’s eighth No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. She previously led the list with Renaissance (in 2022), Lemonade (2016), her self-titled album (2013), 4 (2011), I Am… Sasha Fierce (2008), B’Day (2006) and Dangerously In Love (2003). Beyoncé breaks out of a tie with Janet Jackson for the fourth-most No. 1s among women. Swift has the most, with 13, followed by Barbra Streisand (11), Madonna (nine), Beyoncé (eight) and Jackson (seven).