At least in version 7 the underlying `Graphics` expression that is produced by `BarChart` is highly conducive to a post-processing approach. - Each bar *and* label is contained in an expression that also includes style information. - The label however has an additional `Style` wrapper to effectively reset the color. - To style the bars and labels similarly we need only to remove this undesired re-styling. This can be accomplished with the following replacement rule: Style[obj_, {GrayLevel[0]}] :> obj Complete: totals4 = {{1093, "AUSTRALIA"}, {235, "BELGIUM"}, {474, "BERMUDA"}, {187, "BRAZIL"}}; BarChart[#, ChartStyle -> "Pastel", ChartLabels -> (Placed[Rotate[#, Pi/3] & /@ #2, {{.5, 0}, {1, 1}}])] & @@ Transpose[totals4] /. Style[obj_, {GrayLevel[0]}] :> obj ![enter image description here][1] The rule may need to be change for the output in other *Mathematica* versions, or it may need to be made more specific if you have other objects with an explicit style of `{GrayLevel[0]}` in the chart. An example of a more restrictive pattern that *might* be needed is: Text[Style[obj_, {GrayLevel[0]}], pos__] :> Text[obj, pos] [1]: https://i.sstatic.net/XwVHo.png