- Thursday, September 17, 2026

Ella Langley’s country crossover hit “Choosin’ Texas” has matched the longest-running No. 1 in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, logging a 22nd week atop the all-genre chart and pulling even with Mariah Carey’s holiday perennial “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”

The tie, reflected on the chart dated Sept. 19, puts Ms. Langley in a category that, until this month, belonged to exactly one song. Ms. Carey’s Christmas classic set the mark across a run stretching from 2019 to early 2026, benefiting from a fresh surge to No. 1 every holiday season. Ms. Langley’s song has done it in a single, uninterrupted stretch since first topping the chart in February. Two weeks earlier, “Choosin’ Texas” had already become the longest-leading non-holiday song in Hot 100 history, surpassing the 19-week runs of Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Old Town Road.”

Behind those two songs in the all-time rankings are three tracks tied at 16 weeks apiece: Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night,” Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito,” and Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day.”



“Choosin’ Texas” debuted on the Hot 100 in early November 2025, reached the top 10 in January and claimed its first week at No. 1 in February, according to Billboard, going on to set several other chart records along the way. The song has crowned Country Airplay for three weeks and now sits in the top 10 simultaneously on Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay and Adult Contemporary — a rare crossover trifecta for a country release. It is also No. 1 for a 40th week on the multimetric Hot Country Songs chart, the third song ever to reach that threshold, trailing only Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s “Meant to Be” (50 weeks) and Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (45 weeks).

In the tracking week ending Sept. 10, “Choosin’ Texas” drew 24 million official U.S. streams and 56.9 million radio airplay audience impressions, both down slightly from the prior week, alongside 6,000 in sales, according to Billboard’s Luminate-sourced data.

The milestone arrives amid a broader run for country music atop the all-genre chart. Country songs have held the Hot 100’s top three, four or five spots 15 times in the chart’s history — 11 of those since the beginning of July, per Billboard. Stella Lefty’s “Boston” holds at No. 2 this week, and Taylor Swift’s “I Knew It, I Knew You” is at No. 3.

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