The Texas star has now made history upon her “country era” as the first woman to top both the Hot Country Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Charts, per Billboard. Thanks to her latest single “Texas Hold ‘Em,” Bey is also the first Black woman to debut atop the Country chart.
“Texas Hold ’Em” was released simultaneously with the second single, “16 Carriages” in a surprise album announcement played during the 2024 Super Bowl. Bey starred in a Verizon ad where she contemplated ways to stop the world — which ultimately came in the form of her Renaissance: Act II announcement.
According to Billboard, “Texas Hold ‘Em” garnered over “19.2 million official streams and 4.8 million in all-format airplay audience and sold 39,000 in the US through February 15” as “16 Carriages” brought in “10.3 million streams, 90,000 in radio reach and 14,000 sold.”
The 32-time Grammy winner hasn’t always been well received by the country music community, but her latest feat shows that she’s true to her Texas roots. Upon the two single’s release, country music radio station KYKC felt the sting from the hive, when it was urged to get both tunes in rotation after initially refusing to play them.
A fan took to X/Twitter sharing that the Oklahoma-based country music station declined their request to play “Texas Hold’Em,” despite the song’s traction.
“I requested ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ at my local country radio station (KYKC) and after requesting, I received an email from the radio station stating ‘We do not play Beyoncé on KYKC as we are a country music station,’” the fan captioned a screenshot of their email response.
Another fan responded with, “This station needs to be held accountable for their blatant racism and discrimination against Beyoncé.”
• First Black woman in history to debut at #1 on the Hot Country Songs chart. • Highest Billboard Hot 100 debut ever, 27 years into her career. • #1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs. • #1 debut on Billboard’s Digital Song Sales.… pic.twitter.com/dC2AS2Jb4C
The 32-time Grammy winner hasn’t always been well received by the country music community, but her latest feat shows that she’s true to her Texas roots. Upon the two single’s release, country music radio station KYKC felt the sting from the hive, when it was urged to get both tunes in rotation after initially refusing to play them.
A fan took to X/Twitter sharing that the Oklahoma-based country music station declined their request to play “Texas Hold’Em,” despite the song’s traction.
“I requested ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ at my local country radio station (KYKC) and after requesting, I received an email from the radio station stating ‘We do not play Beyoncé on KYKC as we are a country music station,’” the fan captioned a screenshot of their email response.
Another fan responded with, “This station needs to be held accountable for their blatant racism and discrimination against Beyoncé.”
I requested Texas Hold ‘Em at my local country radio station (KYKC) and after requesting, i received an email from the radio station stating “We do not play Beyoncé on KYKC as we are a country music station. @BeyLegionpic.twitter.com/eQksQemk6m
Craig Stone, a disc jockey at KYKC, told Newsweek that the emails “were sent to a manager at the station who was unaware” that Beyoncé had released two new country singles.
“[The manager] was just completely unaware that [playing Beyoncé on country radio] would be an option,” Stone said. “[The social media attacks] launched so fast and caught us off guard. We just haven’t added it [to KYKC] because it’s quite new. It’s not that we have something against the songs or anything against Beyoncé. We’re kind of shocked of how everything broke out here a couple hours ago.”
The station initially claimed that they never received copies of the singles, but has since added the songs to its rotation. KYKC shared a screenshot of its playlist including “Texas Hold ‘Em.”
“Lots of calls coming in for Beyoncé’s Texas Hold ‘Em. It’s coming up in minutes,” KYKC wrote.
In a statement to Today, the station’s general manager, Roger Harris, further explained the initial email denying the music request.
“We initially refused to play it in the same manner if someone requested us to play the Rolling Stones on our country station,” Harris stated.“We are not a ‘big boy’ station and getting record companies to service us is tough,” he said. “But…finally we got our hands on it, and based on the fan support, we decided to air it…truthfully, normally we would (usually) wait a while to see how the song performs on the charts and on bigger country stations than ours, as we are just the little guys.”
“We love Beyoncé’. We just were behind this country music changeover…. But, now that she’s coming out as a country artist, we want to be all over it……we are not fools…we know how big she is and we are happy to air it and wish her the best success,” he continued.
Bey’s full-length country album is set to arrive on March 29.
0
0
