Beyoncé recently ended her Cowboy Carter tour after 32 shows. The tour spanned from the U.S. to parts of Europe, breaking records in the process. It was a spectacle defined by powerful imagery and visuals, a 40-plus song setlist, special guests and moments that will live in music history.

In celebration of this tour, here are some highlights and accomplishments.

“Oh, who they came to see? Me”

The Cowboy Carter Tour grossed $407.6 million and sold over 1.6 million tickets, becoming the highest-grossing country tour in history. It became Beyoncé’s second tour to gross over $400 million, joining the Renaissance World Tour in 2023 with 56 shows.

It is also the shortest tour to earn that amount of money. She is the first female and American artist to have two separate tours each earn over $400 million.

Beyoncé became the highest-grossing artist at SoFi Stadium, earning over $101.2 million in five shows with Cowboy Carter and three shows from the Renaissance World Tour in 2023.
In Chicago, she set the record for the highest-grossing run at Soldier Field with approximately $42.5 million across three shows. There was also a record-breaking 46,450 hotel rooms booked on the Saturday, May 17 during the tour, the most in Chicago’s history.

In each city she toured, she either broke or tied records set by her or other artists, which demonstrates how massive this tour was in a short time.

“I ain’t in no gang but I got shooters…”

It isn’t a Beyoncé tour without surprise appearances.

Disney legend and icon Miley Cyrus performed “II Most Wanted” with Beyoncé on the first tour stop in Paris. It was the first time these two icons performed their song together live.
Her husband Jay-Z joined her in Paris for “Crazy in Love” and a solo performance of “N—-s in Paris.” In Atlanta, he showed up for “Crazy in Love” with his wife. At the final show in Las Vegas, he once again performed “Crazy in Love” and “N—-s in Paris.” This marks the first time in seven years that he has appeared on tour with Beyoncé since the On the Run II Tour in 2018.

Shaboozey appeared for the last show in Las Vegas and performed his verse on the song “Sweet Honey Buckin.” This marks the second time he performed this verse live, with the first time being at the Christmas halftime show in Houston, Texas in 2024.

Destiny’s Child reunited for the last show in Las Vegas. They performed a mashup of “Lose My Breath,”“Energy” and “Bootylicious”. This is the first time they have performed together since Beychella in 2018.

These special guests added another layer to this historic tour and created some amazing moments that people won’t forget.

“Someday you’re gonna shine on your own”

Blue Ivy made a major splash by joining Beyoncé on this record-breaking tour. She first appeared on stage at 11 years old for the Renaissance World Tour, in which she danced to songs “Black Parade” and “My Power.” With “Cowboy Carter,” she danced to nearly every song on the setlist and people noticed her growing confidence on stage. She even had her own section where she danced to Beyoncé’s hit song “Déja Vu,” which people nicknamed “Déja Blue.”

Rumi was a special surprise as she made several appearances on the Cowboy Carter Tour. She would perform during the song “Protector,” where her older sister, Blue Ivy, would escort her onstage to wave to the audience.

These two are Beyoncé’s living legacy. They gave us a lot of viral and cute moments on tour and showed that they were made for the spotlight.

“History can’t be erased”

During the tour, there were numerous visual references and representations of Black influence on country music and America.

Complimenting her “Cowboy Carter” songs, Beyoncé performed Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” which she transitioned into her hit song “Freedom,” from her Lemonade album. She included her song “Daddy Lessons” from the same album, which was the catalyst for Cowboy Carter. She even had a Renaissance section and hits from her past albums such as “Love on Top” and “Crazy In Love.”

There were striking visuals, such as “Never ask permission for something that already belongs to you,” after the Star-Spangled Banner, that further emphasized the point of Black influence on the genre. She had visuals of her cosplaying as a cowboy in a western environment, photos and videos of her and her family and media criticism of this era.

Not to mention she flew on a horseshoe, a red sedan and a golden horse. She rode a mechanical bull while singing “Tyrant” and had a robot pour her whiskey. She even brought some visuals from the Renaissance World Tour.

She finished the show with a masked statue of liberty while singing “Amen” in either green or gold, which points to America silencing minority voices that helped build this country.

Beyoncé’s outfits on tour embraced not only the red, white and blue but the country genre. From a blue leotard with silver stars and a floor-length American flag fur coat to a blinged-out denim look by Robert Cavalli, she made a statement with these outfits.

“There’s a lot of talking going on”

The conversation surrounding this album has sparked controversy. The conversation ranged from criticism of the album itself, saying she “wasn’t country enough,” to people praising the album.

She received zero nominations for the Country Music Awards (CMA) despite having historic success within the genre. Country stars like Luke Bryan who came out and said, “Everybody loved that Beyoncé made a country album. Nobody’s mad about it. But where things get a little tricky…If you’re gonna make country albums, come into our world and be country with us a little bit.”

More recently, Gavin Adcock, a country singer, said “That sh-t ain’t country music, and it ain’t never been country music, and it ain’t ever gonna be country music.”

There were also reports on her country tour not selling and how she “overestimated her audience” and was called “greedy.”

On top of this, her recent Levi’s Jeans commercial has caught the attention of Piers Morgan and Megyn Kelly. Morgan said, “Very disappointed to see Beyoncé culturally appropriate Marilyn Monroe in her new Levi’s ad.” He later said that it was a joke.

Kelly was harsher with his criticism saying, “This is the opposite of the Sydney Sweeney ad.” “Quite clearly there is nothing natural about Beyonce,” she continued. “Everything – from her image to her fame to her success to her look below – is bought and paid for. Screams artificial, fake, enhanced, trying too hard.”

With all the controversy surrounding this album and era, with people loving or hating, you can’t say she didn’t make an impact.

“For legacy… the last you’ll do is remember me”

“Cowboy Carter” achieved so much in less than two years. She made history by having a number one song and album on the Billboard Country charts. Even when the country radio stations didn’t want to play her songs, she still went number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and maintained success on the country charts.

She won several awards, including Favorite Country Album at the American Music Awards and an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Album.

Her biggest achievement was winning Best Country Album and Album of the Year at the Grammys. She was the first Black woman to win Best Country Album and broke a 26-year streak of a Black woman not winning Album of the Year.

She recently won an Emmy for Best Costume Design for the Cowboy Carter Christmas Halftime Special, which is her first time winning the award.

She has now released her full Levi Jeans ad, a compilation of the first three ads starting with her on a horse and ending with her on a motorcycle, which could allude to the next album being rock music.

Through all the controversies, the triumphs, awards and visuals she delivered a masterpiece. As we await her next era, let’s appreciate what Cowboy Carter represents: A reclamation of a genre and a clear message to “Never ask permission for something that already belongs to you.”