Beyoncé's country songs are boosting streams for black artists

Country music, meet Cowboy Carter.

Iconic singer-songwriter Beyoncé Knowles is taking the world of country music by storm, embracing a genre that has excluded women of color for decades, and in the process proving that her listeners have a strong interest in black female artists. Her country music era, launched during a Super Bowl ad in mid-February and headlined by an upcoming album, has begun to expand the industry's listener base and generate slews of songs by other black female country artists.

Country music star Tanner Adele, a Black artist, saw streams of her song “Buckle Bunny” rise 305% in the United States during the first week of March, according to data from Spotify. Another Adell song, “Trailer Park Barbie,” saw a 130% jump in streams, the music streaming company said.

Other black female country artists, such as Mickey Guyton and Rayna Roberts, also saw boosts, and Knowles' own country song “Daddy Lessons,” from her sixth pop album, “Lemonade,” had a 540% spike in streams the day after her two country hits. The singles were released last month, Spotify reported.

“Texas Hold 'Em,” one of those singles, made her the first black woman to hit No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country chart, according to the popular music magazine.

That song and her second recent country song “16 Carriages” will appear on “Chapter Two: Cowboy Carter.” Knowles announced the album's title in a Tuesday post on her website. It follows “Chapter One: The Renaissance” and serves as the second installment of a three-part project.

Knowles' album announcement was “a pinnacle moment in time,” according to New York Times best-selling author, songwriter and lecturer Alice Randall, who was the first black woman to write a No. 1 song for an artist on the Hot Country chart. , back in 1994.

“Beyoncé points out that black women have been in country music almost since the beginning,” Randall said. “We have finally broken through the red lines that kept us off the charts.”

However, acceptance of artists of color in country music remains a challenge, even for Knowles, whose recorded songs are mostly categorized as pop and R&B.

While some music critics praised Knowles' country songs, other fans of the genre refrained from warm welcomes.

Two days after the release of “Texas Hold 'Em” — which was coined as a “pop” song with elements of folk musician Rhiannon Giddens on banjo — pop radio stations played the song 49 times, according to the publication X by Radio. Industry tracker and US radio updater. But Qatari stations played it only twice, according to the publication.

Beyoncé's fans — known as the “BeyHive” — were called to an Oklahoma station to protest the broadcaster's initial denial of a request to play “Texas Hold 'Em.” On a separate occasion, a fan reported that he heard a radio announcer comment that although the song is country and the instrumentation is country, “there's something else about it that makes me think it's not country.”

Of the more than 2,100 artists played on country radio stations from 2002 to 2020, only about 1.5% were Black, compared to about 98% white, according to a report from SongData on representation in country music. Other artists of color, including those who identify as Hispanic, Indigenous, biracial or Filipino, make up about 1% of the artists who have played.

Beyond just radio, Black artists and artists of color represent less than 4% of country songs played on radio, airplay, chart hits, artists signed to major labels and award nominations, according to SongData.

In regions where artists of color made significant strides over those two decades — gaining 3.2 percentage points in the share of songs played — that progress has significantly benefited male artists of color, according to SongData. Among the artists of color whose songs were streamed, the report found that less than 3% were songs by women.

Some observers have argued that resistance to Knowles' recent music stems from racism and political bias.

“Artists of color are releasing great music that sparks great conversation but has not changed the fundamental limitations and racist nature of mainstream radio in the country,” said Jocelyn Neal, professor and chair of the music department at UNC Chapel Hill. .

Country artists such as Maren Morris, Luke Combs, and Kacey Musgraves took a more progressive approach than the traditional themes of beer, pickup trucks, and country life. Black LGBTQ hip-hop artist Lil Nas The song became embroiled in a racial controversy after it was removed from the Billboard Hot Country chart in 2019 after the song was alleged to lack country elements compared to other songs from the chart.

Political tensions have raged in the country music industry for decades, Neal said, as newer, more liberal artists try to transition away from the genre's “conservative” roots. She said the genre's fan base had long skewed conservative.

Knowles — along with superstar Taylor Swift, who is having a big year in 2023 — received a higher percentage of negative ratings from registered Republicans than any other demographic of voters, across political affiliation, race and age, according to an NBC News poll. Among voters surveyed, 34% had an unfavorable opinion of Knowles, while 16% had a favorable view. More than 40% of Republicans were neutral. Among registered Democrats polled, only 5% had an unfavorable opinion of Knowles and more than half had a favorable view.

Beyoncé previously attracted criticism from country music fans following the Houston native's 2016 live performance of “Daddy Lessons” at the CMA Awards. She was joined by the powerful women's group The Chicks, which made headlines in the early 2000s for their opposition to then-Republican President George Bush and the US invasion of Iraq.

While Beyoncé helps break the mold of country music, she also invites younger audiences to the Western genre.

One of those fans, Tenley Patterson, 26, said she didn't bother listening to country music before Beyoncé's releases, but she was impressed by the country tracks.

“It's not like country music I've ever heard before, it's got a vibe,” Patterson said. “My interest in the genre slowly peaked.”

While the average country music listener is a member of the baby boomer generation, those born between 1946 and 1964, according to music data company Luminate, there has been new interest among listeners who are part of Generation Z — those born between 1997 and 2012 — And Millennials, two generations said to be more diverse than older age groups.

Country music overall saw an increase of 20 billion streams, an increase of 24% year over year, from 2022 to 2023, according to Luminate.

Spotify's Nashville team, which monitors the country genre for the music streaming giant, said it has seen a rise in Gen Z and millennial listeners in response to Knowles' entry. Playlists outside the country genre play Knowles' country music tracks, broadening her reach, said Rachel Whitney, editor-in-chief of the Nashville team.

Whitney said Beyoncé's withdrawal also boosts the visibility of other artists on some charts, such as Lenny Wilson and Cody Johnson, who have more “traditional” country songs.

“It's amazing to see how country connects with younger listeners,” Whitney said. “We can support that with our playlists and make sure we don't make country a specific sound.”

Aside from Knowles, pop stars including Lana Del Rey and Post Malone are reportedly preparing to release country music albums, according to Billboard. The news source says Ed Sheeran may also launch a country project in the near term.

UNC's Neal, a Beyoncé fan, called the star's career trajectory groundbreaking, but said the push for diversity in country music takes more than one star.

“Historical evidence suggests that it takes more than one successful artist to move the needle in what is frankly 100 years of genre formation,” Neal said.