After reaching Billboard’s country charts for the first time with “Texas Hold ‘Em,” Beyoncé makes her first appearance on a rock radio airplay tally with the buzzy, banjo-inflected single.
The song debuts at No. 36 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart dated March 9. It’s Beyoncé’s maiden placement on any of Billboard’s rock-based airplay lists (Adult Alternative Airplay, Alternative Airplay, Mainstream Rock Airplay and Rock & Alternative Airplay). Adult Alternative Airplay reflects songs’ weekly plays on a panel of 50 adult alternative-formatted stations, with data, as monitored by Mediabase, provided to Billboard by Luminate. The format encompasses music under the umbrella of Americana, including material considered more specifically folk, country, blues, soul and other related styles.
The leader in spins for “Texas Hold ‘Em” on the Adult Alternative Airplay panel Feb. 23-29 was KVYN in Napa Valley, Calif. The station played the song 45 times in that span.
“KVYN decided to get on this Beyoncé track right away, mostly to support her musical evolution and dabbling in American roots music,” KVYN program director Nate Campbell tells Billboard. “So far, it’s working in our rotation and we’re happy to have ‘Country Beyoncé’ in our mix.”
Adult Alternative Airplay is the latest airplay chart on which “Texas Hold ‘Em” has debuted. The song bounded 54-34 in its second week on Country Airplay (March 2) and dips to No. 38 on the March 9 survey. Concurrently, it bounds 28-16 on Adult Pop Airplay, 25-17 on Pop Airplay and 36-23 on Rhythmic Airplay – as the Greatest Gainer on each chart – as well as 28-24 on Adult R&B Airplay, 36-32 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and 40-32 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay.
Thanks to Country Airplay and Adult Alternative Airplay now on her résumé, Beyoncé ties Pharrell Williams for the most airplay charts – 18 – on which any artist has appeared. (Among women, she surpasses Mariah Carey, with 17.) The 18 airplay charts, among 25 in Billboard’s menu, that Beyoncé has graced: Adult Alternative Airplay, Adult Contemporary, Adult Pop Airplay, Adult R&B Airplay, Country Airplay, Dance/Mix Show Airplay, Gospel Airplay, Latin Airplay, Latin Pop Airplay, Latin Rhythm Airplay, Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Pop Airplay, R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, the all-format Radio Songs chart, Rap Airplay, Rhythmic Airplay, Smooth Jazz Airplay and Tropical Airplay.
“Texas Hold ‘Em” and counterpart “16 Carriages” are expected to be on Beyoncé’s eighth studio album, the follow-up to the Houston native’s 2022 LP Renaissance, due March 29. Both tracks were released Feb. 11 – with the latter having launched atop the multi-metric Hot Country Songs chart dated Feb. 24. It added a second week at No. 1 on the most recently published, March 2-dated chart, when it also ascended to the top of the all-genre Billboard Hot 100. In addition to 16.1 million in all-format radio airplay audience, the song drew 29 million official U.S. streams and sold 29,000 Feb. 16-22, according to Luminate.
All Billboard charts dated March 9 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, March 5.
