Beyoncé makes history as first black woman with No. 1 country song thanks to ‘Texas Hold ’Em’

nypost.com:

Texas Hold ’Em.”The achievement was announced Tuesday by Billboard, which has been charting country songs since 1958.Beyoncé’s tune also holds the No.

2 slot on the Hot 100 chart, behind Jack Harlow’s “Lovin on Me.”The 32-time Grammy Award winner shocked listeners earlier this month when she appeared in a Super Bowl commercial for Verizon — and casually revealed she would be releasing a brand-new album.Simultaneously, she dropped two singles: “16 Carriages” and the aforementioned “Texas Hold ’Em.” According to the “Crazy in Love” singer, her upcoming album — out March 29 — is “Act II” of “Renaissance,” her album cycle that started with “Renaissance: Act I” in 2022.“Texas Hold ’Em” has received 19.2 million streams, while “16 Carriages” has garnered 10.3 million and is No.

9 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs. The songs were the subject of controversy when an Oklahoma radio station refused a listener’s request to play them.KYKC responded in an email: “We do not play Beyoncé on KYKC as we are a country music station.”Fans were outraged, with some accusing the station of “blatant racism and discrimination.”“The refusal to play these songs raises concerns about the station’s stance on artists of color.

Whether intentional or not, such action contributes to the narrative of racial bias within the country community,” one fan wrote to the station.Roger Harris, the general manager of the station’s owner, South Central Oklahoma Radio Enterprises, or SCORE, said that KYKC isn’t playing the new Beyoncé songs due to the size of the market.“We are a small market station.