Cowboy Carter by numbers... Wonderful cover story
The album is racing to the top, and will be her fifth solo charttopper
She is outselling the rest of the top five albums combined.
11,610%
Increase in streams of Dolly Parton’s Jolene since Beyonce’s was released on Friday
Tracks from the album are in the midweek top 10
Beyonce’s
album is so A-list, even her harmonica player is a global superstar.
The singer revealed Stevie Wonder played the mouth organ on her cover of Dolly Parton’s Jolene, which is currently in the UK’S top five.
The news came out when Stevie, 73, presented Beyonce with an Innovator award at the iheartradio Music Awards, and Beyonce causally dropped into conversation: “Thank you for playing the harmonica on Jolene.”
The track features Beyonce’s personalised lyrics about her 20-year marriage to Jay-z, and follows a voice note from Dolly comparing her famous homewrecker Jolene to the “hussy with the hair” Beyonce sang about on a previous track, Sorry.
“Beyonce is giving that girl some trouble and she deserves it,” Dolly has since said of the track which features on the album Cowboy Carter, released on Friday.
As well as thanking Stevie at the ceremony in LA, Beyonce told the star on stage: “Whenever anyone asks me if there’s anyone I can listen to for the rest of my life, it’s always you. So thank you, God bless you.” The singer went on to commend other innovators including Rosetta Tharpe, Tina Turner, Prince, Tracy Chapman, Michael Jackson and her “rock” of a husband Jay-z as she applauded their “sacrifices, your powerful voices and dauntless spirits”.
Speculation is rife that the third instalment of Beyonce’s Renaissance trilogy will be a rock-themed album, to follow her house music Act I and country-style Act II.
Miley Cyrus features on the album, and Nancy Sinatra said she is “delighted” to make a cameo on it.
Nancy added: “This may be the best sample of Boots yet.”