“Texas Hold ’Em” was Beyoncé’s first Billboard Hot 100 number one as a lead artist in the country genre.
The song was released on February 11, 2024, as one of two opening singles from Cowboy Carter. Written by Beyoncé, Raphael Saadiq, Brian Bates, and other collaborators, it combines country instrumentation with a pop-oriented structure and a danceable rhythm.
It also reached number one on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, making Beyoncé the first Black woman to top that chart. The achievement drew attention to her wider engagement with country music and to the album’s arguments about Black contributions to the genre.
“Daddy Lessons” is an earlier Beyoncé song with country influences, and “Jolene” appears on Cowboy Carter, but neither is the song that first gave her the relevant country-chart milestone. “Texas Hold ’Em” is the precise answer.