WARSAW, POLAND - JUNE 27: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY)(EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) Beyoncé performs onstage during ... [+]
On Sunday (February 11), Beyoncé shocked the world by dropping two singles. The fact that she shared new music is exciting enough, but this time around, the superstar is changing things up and trying her hand at a genre she doesn’t know well. While the world has called her latest offerings what they are–country–it’s yet to be seen if the Billboard charts will reflect that fitting label.
Beyoncé’s new singles “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em” are both decidedly country in sound and style. They’re modern, and the chart-topper’s own take on country, for sure, but there is no mistaking these tunes for any other genre.
Both “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” are off to a strong start when it comes to all the forms of consumption that feed into the Billboard charts. After just moments of availability, the two singles rose to the highest two spots on iTunes, where they’ve held ever since. The cuts are also performing well on Spotify, racking up millions of plays. All this attention will help them land on several rankings next week–but which genre-specific lists could they appear on?
While she’s largely known for her pop and R&B output, this isn’t the first time that Beyoncé has tried her hand at country. In 2016, when she released her Lemonade album, the world was shocked to hear the singer include a decidedly country tune. “Daddy Lessons” was not one of the bigger hits from that project, but it was an introduction to the country world.
Somehow, despite every critic calling “Daddy Lessons” a country tune, Billboard didn’t use the same classification. The track peaked at No. 26 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, which Queen Bey already knows well. The song also rose as high as No. 16 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales ranking.
Despite the commercial success of “Daddy Lessons,” Beyoncé has never reached any of Billboard’s country charts. Of course, she hasn’t made many attempts to do so, but the fact that her one pure country cut failed to do so, based on how it was labeled, is surprising.
Both “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em” are all but guaranteed to sell and stream well enough to reach plenty of Billboard charts next week. They’ll almost certainly place on some general lists, such as the Hot 100, Streaming Songs, and Digital Song Sales rankings. Beyond that, it’s yet to be seen if Billboard will classify the new cuts as country, which would make them eligible to land on tallies like the Hot Country Songs, Country Streaming Songs, and Country Digital Song Sales charts.
If Billboard declares Beyoncé’s new singles as something other than country–likely pop or R&B/hip-hop, if anything–they will still become hits, but there will likely be an outcry. Questions will arise as to why some artists and songs are easily called country, but Bey’s latest singles aren’t, despite being very much fitting of that style in all respects.
