Ella Langley's Choosin' Texas spends 23rd week at Number One, breaking Billboard Hot 100 record

New summit on the Hot 100

Ella Langley reached 23 nonconsecutive weeks at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 on Tuesday, setting the record for the most weeks spent at the top in the chart's 68-year history. The track surpassed Mariah Carey's 1994 holiday recording "All I Want for Christmas Is You," which held the previous high mark of 22 weeks. First released in October as the lead single from Langley's album "Dandelion," the song debuted on the chart in November and reached Number One on February 14. Over the following months, tracks by Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, BTS, Bruno Mars, Olivia Rodrigo, Drake, and Ariana Grande briefly replaced it before Langley mounted a 13-week consecutive run starting in July. Across the Atlantic, the song also led the UK singles chart in early September, replacing Sam Fender and Olivia Dean's 23-week leader "Rein Me In."

Writing and regional narrative

Langley, 27, composed the track during a 2024 retreat alongside Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, and Joybeth Taylor. The narrative follows a Tennessee woman watching her partner leave for a rival in Texas, contrasting regional markers such as Smoky Mountain rain, Memphis blues, and Jack Daniel's whiskey against the city of Abilene. Langley explained that the song came together in 45 minutes after Lambert shared a story about avoiding a traffic citation while carrying a pet kangaroo in a vehicle with Texas license plates. Langley reflected on the song's reception at a press conference in March.

I mean, we loved the song when we wrote it. But did we think it could do something like this? I don't know how you could predict that.

Streaming expansion across genres

The track accumulated 911 million on-demand streams in the United States and 1.26 billion streams globally as of mid-August, according to data from Luminate. The Recording Industry Association of America certified the release six-times platinum. Luminate executive Jaime Marconette attributed the momentum to younger, streaming-forward listeners who have expanded country music beyond traditional terrestrial radio formats. Spotify senior editor Claire Heinichen observed that broad playlist adoption introduced Langley to general pop audiences after she grew from under one million monthly Spotify listeners in early 2023 to more than 32 million.

It made its way into 'Today's Top Hits,' which is our biggest global flagship playlist, but it's also showing up in 'Mood' and 'Moments' playlists because it fits so well in 'driving' or 'chill' or 'cookout.' It really can work everywhere.

Label standing and upcoming awards

Columbia Records now holds three of the four longest-charting Number One hits in Billboard history with "Choosin' Texas," "All I Want for Christmas Is You," and Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road." Langley's album "Dandelion" reached Number One on the Billboard 200 before slipping to second place behind Jhene Aiko's "Westside Whimsy," while her subsequent single "Loving Life Again" continues to advance on the singles charts. In May, Langley received seven trophies at the Academy of Country Music Awards, winning Female Artist of the Year as well as Song and Single of the Year. She leads the field with nine nominations heading into the Country Music Association Awards in Nashville on November 18, scheduled two days after the 2027 Grammy Award nominations on November 16.