Beychella keeps making history. On Saturday (April 14), Beyoncé became the first black woman to headline the festival. Her epic set was also the most-viewed live stream in Coachella history.
Approximately 458,000 viewers from around the world tuned into watch Queen Bey slay on YouTube, the most ever for a single Coachella performance since they started streaming the festival eight years ago. The two-hour extravaganza featured cameos from Destiny’s Child, JAY-Z, and Solange.
Overall, Bey helped Coachella have its biggest YouTube numbers of all time. This year, the fest earned 43.1 million views and streams from across the globe, the most of any live festival in YouTube history.
Mrs. Carter also gave Twitter traction. “Beychella” was reportedly mentioned about 2.2 million times on Twitter. The social media platform also included the highest tweets per minute near the end of her set, according to Billboard. This is all the more impressive since Beyoncé isn’t even an active Twitter user, with her last post coming in June of 2017.
Queen Bey is using the HBCU-inspired performance to do good. Following her show-stopping set, the philanthropist announced a $100,000 Homecoming Scholars Award program for HBCU students.
Bey will be back in Indio, Calif. on Saturday (April 21) for Weekend 2 of Coachella.
Beyoncé paid tribute to historically black colleges during her acclaimed Coachella performance, and now the superstar is donating $100,000 to four black universities through her charitable BeyGOOD foundation.
On Monday (April 16), ‘Yoncé announced the inaugural recipients of her Homecoming Scholars Award Program. Donations will go to students from Tuskegee University, Bethune-Cookman University, Xavier University of Louisiana, and Wilberforce University. One student from each school will receive $25,000 towards their 2018-2019 school year.
“The [Coachella] show, with its homage to excellence in education, was a celebration of the homecoming weekend experience, the highest display of college pride,” reads a statement from BeyGOOD. “The energy-filled production put the spotlight on art and culture, mixing the ancient and the modern, which resonated masterfully through the marching band, performance art, choir and dance. It was the impetus to mark her second scholarship program.”
Each student will be required to maintain a 3.5 GPA. Their disciplines of study can include literature, creative arts, African-American studies, science, education, business, communications, social sciences, computer science, and engineering. This award will be available to students of any gender.
Last year, Queen Bey launched her Formation Scholars program. She donated money to female students from Berklee College of Music, Howard University, Parsons School of Design, and Spelman College.