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Step aside for a moment, Dolly Parton?

If there was ever any doubt, Beyoncé is truly one of one and the only one, as she scores a historic, record-breaking Official Chart Double today.

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, Cowboy Carter (Parkwood/Columbia): Even in a first quarter that’s seen full-length releases from some pretty massive artists — including Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign, Ariana Grande and Future & Metro Boomin — Beyoncé albums remain a next-level event in the pop sphere. Cowboy Carter rode onto the scene last Friday (March 29) with more buzz and anticipation than any other LP of 2024 thus far, and the results have not disappointed: The album currently boasts a 92 score on review-aggregating website Metacritic, making it the second-best-reviewed set from any artist this year, and has also started receiving some serious Grammy buzz as the set to finally earn her long-overdue first album of the year trophy.

Unsurprisingly, the release is expected to make an eye-popping debut — helped by a number of physical versions of Cowboy Carter that Beyoncé is currently selling exclusively via her webstore. (Vinyl and CD are scheduled to go wide to all retail on April 12, which should give it a nice sales bump in its third chart week.) The set’s vinyl release includes four different-colored variants, each with a different back cover image of Beyoncé. The CD version includes an extra song, “Flamenco,” and is available in four variants (each also with a different Beyoncé back cover), while two of the CDs are exclusively available inside the boxed sets she’s selling — three versions of which are currently for sale, each with a T-shirt and a copy of the album on CD inside a branded box. Both physical releases include extended versions of “Riiverdance,” “II Hands II Heaven” and “Tyrant”. And of course, there is a digital version for sale and streaming, which includes five tracks not featured on the physical release (“Flamenco,” “Spaghettii,” “The Linda Martell Show,” “Ya Ya” and “Oh Louisiana”).

All of this should add up to a lofty sales total for Beyoncé, who has become a reliable performer in terms of physical sales, moving 190,000 such copies of Cowboy Carter’s 2022 predecessor Renaissance in its U.S. debut frame, according to Luminate. The new album is also streaming very well — at 27 tracks, it’s the longest album of Bey’s career to date, which will certainly help boost those totals — and Spotify even confirmed that it was the service’s most-streamed album in a single day of 2024 so far upon its release last Friday. That said, outside of previously-released lead single (and former Billboard Hot 100 No. 1) “Texas Hold ‘Em,” the album has no breakout hit yet on streaming akin to Grande’s “We Can’t Be Friends” or Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That” — as of Tuesday (April 2), the only new song from the set in Spotify’s Daily US Top Songs chart was the Miley Cyrus duet “II Most Wanted,” at No. 10. (Both “II Most Wanted” and Bey’s redo of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” were top 10 on Apple Music, at Nos. 10 and 8, respectively.)

Nonetheless, the high-volume combination of sales and streams should still result in a massive first week for Cowboy Carter — likely setting a new high-water mark for 2024 by passing Future and Metro Boomin’s We Don’t Trust You, which entered with 251,000 units on this week’s chart. It may also be in line to pass the 332,000 units Renaissance moved in its debut frame two years ago, becoming Beyoncé’s best-debuting album since her universally-beloved Lemonade bowed with 653,000 units back in 2016.

Beyonce launched a mysterious and almost cryptic new website, beencountry.com, which some have suggested may be her way of teasing her forthcoming tour announcement.

"Texas Hold 'Em" (Pony Up) remix is out now! Listen on every platform.

Beyonce was spotted arriving at a meeting in Los Angeles on Monday.

On Monday night, Beyoncé received the Innovator Award at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California.

Beyoncé sent flowers and notes to Miley Cyrus and Tyla.

I updated the gallery with missing pictures taken by Mason Poole and official Renaissance World Tour shots.

Beyonce was spotted in Los Angeles on March 17.

As the 25th anniversary of Destiny's Child approaches, Mathew Knowles, the father and former manager of Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams, took a moment to reflect on their journey together. In an open letter penned for Women’s History Month, Knowles expressed his admiration and gratitude for the trio's remarkable achievements.

"Dear Destiny's Child,

It is hard to believe that it has been almost 25 years since we began this journey this June. You were just young teenagers with a dream to be the best in the world and you accomplished your dream. I thank you for your trust that you gave me to help create and facilitate your amazing journey. I want to acknowledge all the many young artists and dancers from Girls Tyme to Destiny’s Child who were in some way part of the journey as well as the former managers who were there with Girls Tyme before me.

Beyoncé, Kelly, and Michelle, on this Women's Month, I wanted to take a moment to express my admiration for the incredible talent, hard work, and dedication that each of you have poured into your craft. Your relentless pursuit of excellence and unwavering trust in each other have undoubtedly propelled you to become the number one female group of all time.

Your music has touched the hearts of millions, inspiring and empowering fans around the world. Your harmonies, performances, and message of strength have left an indelible mark on the music industry and beyond.

Beyonce attended an Armand de Brignac event in Tokyo on Thursday.

In the gallery you'll find new promotional photos for "Cowboy Carter", CD and vinyl artwork for the album and new advertisements in various cities around the world. Also, watch an unboxing video for the blue vinyl below.

Nicki Minaj, K. Michelle and Mickey Guyton are the latest recipients of a Beyoncé bouquet.

Beyonce was spotted in Tokyo on Friday.

It may be Cowboy Carter week, but the silvery disco ball strobe lights of Renaissance — the first act of Beyoncé’s presently unfolding trilogy — continue to illuminate the world. On Monday (March 26), the Human Rights Campaign debuted Renaissance: A Queer Syllabus, a sprawling collection of academic articles, essays, films and other pieces of media rooted in Black queer and feminist studies and directly inspired by each track on Queen Bey’s Billboard 200-topping dance album.

Curated by Justin Calhoun, Leslie Hall and Chauna Lawson of the HRC’s HBCU program, the syllabus will serve as an educational resource designed to honor, analyze and celebrate the joy, resilience, innovation and legacy of the Black queer community. The syllabus will be shared with nearly 30 historically Black colleges and universities, including Howard University, North Carolina A&T University, Prairie View A&M University and Shaw University.

Released in the summer of 2022, Renaissance was and continues to be a bonafide cultural phenomenon. A lovingly researched ode to the Black queer roots of dance music filtered through her intensely personal relationship with her late Uncle Johnny, the album captivated fans around the world and shined a much-needed light on the unsung movers and shakers of Black queer art and culture. The album won four Grammys — including a historic win for best dance/electronic album — housed a pair of Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits in “Break My Soul” (No. 1) and “Cuff It” (No. 6) and spawned a record-breaking stadium tour and accompanying box office-topping documentary concert film.

From the economic impact of Beyoncé’s silver fashion aesthetic to career boosts given to Black queer icons such as Kevin Aviance, Ts Madison and Honey Dijon, Renaissance proved itself to be much more than a standard LP. The HRC understood that there was a chance to make a real impact across education and activism through the lens of the record.

It’s been less than a day since Beyoncé finally dropped her Cowboy Carter album, and the project is already breaking records.

The album is officially Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day in 2024, the streaming service announced on Friday (March 29). This is the first time a country-album holds the title this year. Before the album’s release, “Texas Hold ‘Em” was streamed over 200 million times.

That’s not the only record that the album broke. Cowboy Carter has the biggest debut to date earning more first-day streams on Amazon Music globally than any of her previous albums. The album also marks the most first-day streams for a country album by a female artist in the history of Amazon Music.

The 27-track album features a whopping list of star-studded collaborators, including Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Linda Martell, Tanner Adell, Willie Jones, Raphael Saadiq, The-Dream, Shaboozey and more. The project also features the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper, “Texas Hold ‘Em.”

Even Beyoncé couldn’t resist cherry-blossom season. For the release of her all-American album, act ii: Cowboy Carter, she celebrated with an autograph signing for 150 fans at Tower Records in … Japan? She can never let us know her next move. Just a few hours before, Sony Music Japan announced that Beyoncé was on her way for a special meet and greet, and naturally, everyone immediately wished teleportation was real. “beyoncé is the most unpredictable artist ever because why would she take a flight to JAPAN out of all countries to sign CDs of her new COUNTRY album on release day,” wrote one fan on Twitter. After all, the most American thing to do is to go to another country to celebrate your success. Below are some of the lucky cowboys who got to tip their hat to Bey.

Beyoncé is the ultimate American cowboy.

Now, before anyone starts airin’ their lungs, the proof is right there in her blazing displays of bravura, burn-the-breeze grit, and unprecedented levels of Southern swag. This is, after all, the woman who turned keeping a bottle of hot sauce in her purse into a political battle cry.

Like any true cowboy, she is always on the search for new frontiers. At this point, it’s clear she drinks upstream from the pop herd. Despite having never released a music video for “TEXAS HOLD ’EM” or performed it live, the song is currently topping Billboard’s Hot Country Songs, making her the first Black female artist to reach the No. 1 spot.

She performs with the reckless abandon of the best rodeo roughstock twisters onstage, capturing audiences as if they were something that’s got to be roped in a hurry before they get away. Two thirds into her three-part RENAISSANCE opus, we’ve already witnessed her ride a silver horse named Reneigh while suspended in the air above tens of thousands of fans to close out a world tour for Act I, and grab the Super Bowl by the horns to drop “TEXAS HOLD ’EM” and “16 CARRIAGES,” the first two singles of Act II.

Beyonce shared photos from her recent trip to Paris.

Cowboy Carter available now on shop.beyonce.com.