This milestone is staying in the Carter family!
Rumi Carter officially became the youngest female artist to make it on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week thanks to her contribution to “Protector” on her mom Beyoncé‘s Cowboy Carter.
With the distinction, she surpasses the record held by her older sister Blue Ivy, who earned the honor after joining Beyoncé on The Lion King: The Gift standout “Brown Skin Girl.” Blue Ivy was 7 years old at the time, while Rumi made the Hot 100 chart at 6 years and 9 months old.
Rumi is included in the intro of the soulful ballad “Protector,” Beyoncé’s song about motherhood. “Mom, can I hear the lullaby please?” Rumi asks at the start of the track. “Protector” debuted at Number 42 on the Hot 100 chart.
“And I will lead you down that road if you lose your way/ Born to be a protector,” Beyoncé sings on the soulful track. “Even though I know someday you’re gonna shine on your own/I will be your projector.”
French singer Jordy Lemoine continues to hold the record for the youngest artist on the Hot 100 overall thanks to “Dur dur d’être bébé! (It’s Tough to Be a Baby),” which charted in June 1993.
Blue Ivy holds a different record though: She’s the youngest person to ever appear on any Billboard chart since a recording of her two days after her birth was included on Jay-Z’s “Glory” in 2012. (The song didn’t chart on the Hot 100 but made it on rap-specific charts.) She also won her first Grammy at nine years old for her work on “Brown Skin Girl.”
Beyoncé also made history with Cowboy Carter as she became the first Black woman to ever top Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. Cowboy Carter debuted as the Number One album — her eighth to top the Billboard 200 — in the country overall.
With more than 407,000 units earned in the U.S., Cowboy Carter is by far the biggest album debut of 2024. Cowboy Carter marked Beyoncé’s biggest opening debut since 2016’s Lemonade, which opened with more than 650,000 units at the time.
In the Top 10 of the Hot 100, Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” went up to Number Two, while her collaboration with Miley Cyrus hit Number Six and her reimagining of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” landed at Number Seven.