Beyoncé, a queen, the legend, the icon; many things describe the multi-talented artist, and “the first…” has been applied to her many times throughout her career. Since today is the last day of Black Music Month, let’s take a look of some of the times Beyoncé became “the first.”
- In 2001, Beyoncé became the first black woman to win ASCAP’s Songwriter of the Year Award. To note how much change still needs to be made, Cardi B just became the first female rapper to do the same thing. Beyoncé won that award with her songwriting capabilities under Destiny’s Child, before the solo career. With hits like “Survivor,” “Independent Women”, and even “Bootylicious” (which eventually got placed in the dictionary), Beyoncé came into the industry striking down barriers, and not taking no for an answer.
2. While Beyoncé was making waves and charting with her #1 hit Crazy in Love” in the U.S. in 2003, she also topped the U.K. charts simultaneously, making her the first female artist to do so. “Crazy in Love” spent 26 weeks on the chart, and became number 1 on August 9th, 2003, where it remained for 3 weeks.
3. In 2010, Beyoncé became the first woman to win 6 Grammys in one night, making her not only the first to win 6, but the most won by any female artist in one night. Adele tied her record 2 years later in 2012.
4. Beyoncé is the first artist, and as of now, only artist to have all her albums debut at No. 1. This catalog includes Dangerously in Love (2003), B’Day (2006), I am… Sasha Fierce (2008), 4 (2011), Beyoncé (2013), and Lemonade (2016). All of which are platinum, or multi-platinum.
5. Beyoncé’s Lemonade was an album, a moment in time, a staple for the culture, and a shift in the icon’s career. Becoming more focused on issues pertaining to the Black community publicly, Lemonade was Beyoncé’s call for acknowledgment, acceptance, change, love, and more. The pure genuine emotion with this album resulted with her becoming the first woman artist to chart 12 or more songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at the same time. She was bested by Cardi B with her Invasion of Privacy album in 2018, but Kendrick Lamar takes it all with 14 singles from DAMN..
6. Continuing with Lemonade, it helped make Beyoncé the first artist to be nominated in four different genres in the same year at the Grammys. In 2017, Bey was nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, Best Rock Performance, and Best Urban Contemporary Album. This was the year Adele broke her Grammy in half for Album of the Year, because she, like many, felt Beyoncé deserved the win.
7. In 2018, #Beychella was born, and the rest was history (literally). Beyoncé became the first Black woman to headline Coachella. Not only was this a moment for the culture, but for those that couldn’t afford to go see Beychella live, there was a livestream for the first week. However, the queen being a true finesser for greatness, scored a Netflix deal, and produced a documentary on the process, and gave Beychella life again for 2019 (although it never really went anywhere).