Ella Langley’s ‘Choosin’ Texas’ sets record with 23rd week at No. 1

If this sounds like a broken record, it’s because it is -- Ella Langley broke another Billboard Hot 100 record.

The Alabama country music star topped the Hot 100 chart for the 23rd week with “Choosin’ Texas,” according to Billboard. The song snaps a tie with Mariah Carey’s 1994 smash, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” a holiday favorite that could grab back the overall lead as the holiday season approaches.

But if Langley continues at her current pace, that could be difficult.

The newest Hot 100 rankings are for the week ending Sept. 26 and will be reflected beginning Wednesday. The rankings were released a day later this week due to the observance of Yom Kippur on Monday.

Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” was released in October 2025 and debuted on the Hot 100 chart dated Nov. 1, 2025, according to Billboard. It was the 27-year-old’s fifth career entry on the Hot 100 and became her first top-10 hit in January 2026.

After “Choosin’ Texas” first reached No. 1 on Feb. 14, it was dethroned for two weeks, Deadline reported. Although the song has bounced in and out of the top spot three times since then, it regained the No. 1 spot again on July 4 and has had a stranglehold atop the charts. It has spent the last 12 weeks at the top of the pops.

Luminate, the industry data and analytics company, found that “Choosin’ Texas” brought in 911 million on-demand streams in the U.S. and 1.26 billion globally as of mid-August, The Associated Press reported.

When Langley reached 20 weeks at No. 1, she rewrote the record for the most cumulative weeks atop the Hot 100 among non-holiday songs.

She broke the mark of 19 set in 2019 by Lil Nas X, whose “Old Town Road” hit featuring Billy Ray Cyrus spent 19 weeks at No. 1; that was matched in 2024 by Shaboozey with the country crossover hit, “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”

The Billboard Hot 100 first debuted in August 1958.

Nate Sloan, a musicologist, assistant professor at the University of Southern California and co-host of the podcast “Switched On Pop,” told the AP that Langley’s phrasing lulls the listener into the song’s rhythm, noting that “it’s almost like a trance.” It’s also “chill,” and not a bombastic or anthem-like song, he said.

“It’s a little more rock or even kind of soul-inflected,” Sloan told the AP. “Part of the reason songs like ‘Choosin’ Texas’ are able to resonate with such a wide audience is because, musically, they’re bringing in a lot of diverse influences.”

“My head’s spinning around like an owl,” Langley told Yahoo on the red carpet of the Billboard Women in Music Awards. “You ever seen that? It’s pretty scary. It’s nuts. I’m just excited.”

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