COWBOY CARTER OFF TO THE RACES AT DSPs

COWBOY CARTER (Parkwood/Columbia), Beyoncé’s follow-up to 2022’s RENAISSANCE, arrived on Friday (3/29) and wasted no time breaking records.

At Amazon Music, the 27-track set is now the Texas native’s biggest debut to date, earning more first-day streams than any of her previous albums. It has also achieved the most first-day streams for a country album by a female artist in the platform’s history.

At Spotify, COWBOY CARTER earned the title of most-streamed album in a single day in 2024 so far, the first time for a country album.

The rollout for COWBOY CARTER began in February with the release of “TEXAS HOLD 'EM” and “16 CARRIAGES.” Earlier this week, Beyoncé teased potential features by Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson—and she did not disappoint; Dolly appears on an interlude introducing Beyoncé’s reimagining of the country star’s 1973 classic, “Jolene,” while Willie shows up as a fictional radio host on “SMOKE HOUR II.” Country pioneer Linda Martell pops up on “SPAGHETTI” and another interlude, “THE LINDA MARTELL SHOW.” Other contributors include Post Malone and Miley Cyrus.

COWBOY CARTER is already #1 on the iTunes album chart and will undoubtedly crush it at Apple Music. It will surely continue to dominate the conversation and the charts in the coming weeks. We’ll just have to saddle up and see. In the meantime, listen below.