In her delightfully cheeky Verizon Super Bowl business, Beyoncé swore to do one factor: Break the web. As the business demonstrated, she couldn’t—no less than not within the literal sense. Instead, after the business ended, she did one thing else: She hacked the web, dropping two new songs, “Texas Hold ’Em” and “16 Carriages,” the previous of which is already on its option to turning into TikTok’s viral dance music of the yr.

This was all the time going to occur. Pretty a lot the whole lot Beyoncé does—each album drop, each outfit—goes viral. That’s why her Verizon business didn’t seem like a shallow try to astroturf hype. Moreover, “Texas Hold ’Em” is an enormous pop-country crossover observe, and its fast banjo riffs (from maestro Rhiannon Giddens) and lyrics about whiskey and taking it to the ground are excellent for line dancing. Line dances, which lend themselves to enjoyable mimicry and interpretation, naturally do nicely on social platforms. It would have been weirder if TikTok hadn’t been flooded with new dances within the week after the music dropped. (If you’re in search of the video that greatest exemplifies this pattern, take a look at this chart-topper from performers Matt McCall and Dexter Mayfield after which simply comply with the sound on down, down, down.)

Inevitability, although, isn’t the entire motive “Texas Hold ’Em” is presently the backing observe to just about 134,000 videos with hundreds of thousands of collective views. The music is boot-scootin’ its means onto TikTok at a time when numerous music has been muted on the platform following a dustup between TikTok and Universal Music Group.

Back in January, after the 2 corporations failed to return to phrases on a licensing settlement for UMG music, the large report firm pulled songs that it owns the rights to from TikTok, together with cuts from artists like Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish. That means any video utilizing music from these artists now performs with out sound. Beyoncé’s music is distributed by Columbia/Sony, a UMG rival, so “Texas Hold ’Em” now sits at Number 5 on TikTok’s Viral 50 record. TikTok didn’t reply to an electronic mail in search of touch upon this story.

Now, like a shiny holographic disco horse, Beyoncé is atop the social internet. When she introduced her new album, Act II, and dropped “Texas Hold ’Em” and “16 Carriages,” the web was in a tizzy about the truth that Beyoncé was making what gave the impression to be a complete nation album, a continuation of the country-infused “Daddy Lessons” from 2016’s Lemonade. (“She coming to put the cunt in country!!” went the replies on the @BeyLegion X account. “‘Daddy Lessons’ reloaded!” went another.)

On Tuesday, “Texas Hold ’Em” made Beyoncé the first Black woman to debut at primary on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. The music has presently been streamed almost 20 million instances.

TikTok sounds don’t depend towards Billboard chart rankings, however there isn’t a doubt that viral dances create the form of hype that results in music streams, album gross sales, and radio play. Beyoncé has no management over the TikTok/UMG scenario (most likely), and he or she had no means of understanding whether or not their licensing dispute would nonetheless be ongoing when her new music dropped (once more, most likely), however its existence has paved the way in which for her new music to be one of many greatest issues occurring with music on the platform proper now. No doubt it might’ve hit these heights regardless, however with much less competitors, there’s nothing holding it again.