Beyoncé Achieves Eighth No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 with ‘Cowboy Carter’

The set also starts at No. 1 on Top Country Albums, making Beyoncé the first Black woman ever to have led the list.

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. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new April 13, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on April 9. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of Cowboy Carter’s first-week unit sum of 407,000, SEA units comprise 232,000 (equaling 300.41 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), traditional album sales comprise 168,000 and TEA units comprise 7,000. With 300.41 million on-demand official streams, Cowboy Carter earns Beyoncé her biggest streaming week ever and the fourth-largest for a country album.

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).

Cowboy Carter’s sales were supported by the album’s availability across a number of configurations, released on March 29. It was issued as standard 19-track edition on vinyl (across four variants, each pressed on different color vinyl [black, red, white and blue] with alternate back cover artwork), a CD with an additional song (“Flamenco”) and a digital download and streaming edition (both in clean and explicit versions, with three bonus songs “Flamenco,” “Spaghetti” and “Ya Ya,” plus two interludes). The CD edition was issued in four variants (each with different back cover art). Two of the variants were sold as stand-alone items, while two of the CDs were only available inside two deluxe boxed sets (each with a different branded T-shirt contained inside a branded box). All physical configurations of the album were sold exclusively through Beyoncé’s official webstore, while the digital download and streaming editions were widely available.

The vinyl edition of Cowboy Carter sold 62,000 copies (across its four variants combined), marking Beyoncé’s biggest week on vinyl and the largest week for any vinyl album in 2024.

Cowboy Carter boasts an eclectic lineup of billed guest artists, including Tanner Adell, Beyoncé’s daughter Rumi Carter, Miley Cyrus, Willie Jones, Tiera Kennedy, Linda Martell, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Post Malone, Reyna Roberts, Shaboozey, and Brittney Spencer. Among the many additional players on the album: 070 Shake, Jon Batiste, Ryan Beatty, Gary Clark Jr., The-Dream, Rhiannon Giddens, Paul McCartney, Pharrell, Robert Randolph, Nile Rodgers, Raphael Saadiq, Sara Watkins and Stevie Wonder.

Future and Metro Boomin’s We Don’t Trust You falls to No. 2 on the latest Billboard 200 after debuting atop the list a week ago. The set earned 131,000 equivalent album units in its second week (down 48%). Morgan Wallen’s former leader One Thing at a Time rises 4-3 with 69,000 (up 2%) and Ariana Grande’s chart-topping Eternal Sunshine dips 3-4 with 58,000 (down 19%).

J-Hope’s Hope On the Street, Vol. 1 debuts at No. 5 with 50,000 equivalent album units earned. It’s J-Hope’s second top 10-charting effort, and highest-charting set, following Jack In the Box, which peaked at No. 6 on the Sept. 2, 2023-dated list. Of Hope On the Street’s 50,000 units earned, album sales comprise 44,000, SEA units comprise 4,000 (equaling 5.7 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise 2,000. The album’s sales were supported by eight collectible CD editions (including exclusive variants for Target, Walmart and the Weverse store), all containing branded paper merchandise.

Olivia Rodrigo’s former No. 1 Guts falls 2-6 on the new Billboard 200, with 49,000 equivalent album units earned (down 32%), Noah Kahan’s Stick Season descends 5-7 with 44,000 units (down 2%) and Taylor Swift’s chart-topping Lover falls 7-8 with 40,000 units (down 1%). Rounding out the top 10 are two former leaders: SZA’s SOS (6-9 with 39,000; down 3%) and Zach Bryan’s self-titled album (8-10 with nearly 39,000; down 1%).

Source: billboard.com