As expected, Beyoncé has debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 with “Cowboy Carter,” marking the biggest album sales yet in 2024.
“Cowboy,” which was released on March 29, arrives with 407,000 equivalent album units. giving Beyoncé her eighth place on the list. It marks the highest-performing arc since Taylor Swift’s “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” which moved 1.653 million units upon its release in November, and gives Beyoncé her biggest streaming week in her history.
The album, which is Beyoncé’s biggest sales week since 2016’s “Lemonade” (653,000 units), also makes her the first Black woman to debut at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart. It’s the best week of sales for a country album since last July, when Swift’s “Speak Now” topped it with 716,000 copies.
Of the 407,000 units, 232,000 are attributed to streaming equivalent albums (300.41 million official streams), while traditional album sales total 168,000 and track equivalent albums total 7,000. Its four limited edition vinyls, that many fans noticed that five of the streaming tracks were missingsold 62,000 copies, giving Beyoncé her biggest week on the format and the biggest for any vinyl album in 2024.
Additionally, with her eighth No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Beyoncé breaks a tie with Janet Jackson for fourth place among women. Ahead of her are Madonna with nine, Barbra Streisand with 11 and Swift with 12.
In other parts of the graph, “We Don’t Trust You” by Future and Metro Boomin moves from first place to number 2 with 131,000 equivalent album units. Morgan Wallen trails behind at No. 3 with “One Thing at a Time,” while Ariana Grande’s “Eternal Sunshine” drops from No. 3 to No. 4. Rounding out the top five is J-Hope, whose “Hope on the Streets” , Vol. 1” arrives with 50,000 equivalent units sold.
“Cowboy” marked the beginning of the second act of his “Renaissance” trilogy project. The first installment was released in July 2022, garnering 332,000 album-equivalent units in its first week and peaking at No. 1.
“Cowboy” features the pair of lead singles “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” and features a variety of artists including Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Miley Cyrus, Post Malone and more.
For more information on NBC BLK, Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.