Ella Langley is now one week away from doing something no song has ever done on the Billboard Hot 100.
Her massive country hit “Choosin’ Texas” has spent a total of 22 weeks at No. 1, tying Mariah Carey’s holiday giant “All I Want for Christmas Is You” for the longest run at the top of the chart.
If Langley gets another week at No. 1, she would move into first place by herself.
For Nashville, that is a pretty remarkable sentence.
A straight-up country song written by Langley, Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick and Joybeth Taylor is sitting beside one of the biggest pop songs in chart history — and it could soon move past it.
“Choosin’ Texas” Has Already Broken a Huge Record
Before reaching 22 weeks, Langley had already made Billboard history.
When “Choosin’ Texas” reached its 20th week at No. 1, it became the longest-running non-holiday No. 1 song in Hot 100 history.
That pushed it beyond two songs that had shared the previous non-holiday record: Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” and Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” which each spent 19 weeks at No. 1.
Now Langley has climbed all the way to 22.
The only song still beside her is Mariah Carey’s Christmas classic, which has built its 22-week total over multiple holiday seasons.
Langley’s run has happened during a single release cycle.
That makes what is happening with “Choosin’ Texas” even more unusual.
Nashville Is All Over This Song
The title says Texas.
The machinery behind the song is very Nashville.
Langley co-wrote “Choosin’ Texas” with Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick and Joybeth Taylor. Lambert also helped produce it with Langley and Ben West.
Earlier this year, the writers gathered at BMI in Nashville for a No. 1 celebration honoring “Choosin’ Texas” and Langley’s “Weren’t For The Wind.”
At that point, “Choosin’ Texas” had only spent three weeks atop the Hot 100.
Only.
Six months later, it has reached 22.
That Nashville celebration now looks like it happened near the beginning of the song’s story instead of the end.
MusicRow reported that the BMI event drew a packed crowd of songwriters and industry figures, with the attention centered not only on Langley but also the writing team that helped create the record.
That is an important part of this milestone.
It is easy to look at a Billboard chart and see only the artist’s name.
But Nashville knows songs usually begin with a handful of people in a writing room.
This one happened to grow into one of the biggest singles in Hot 100 history.
Shaboozey Is Not Upset About Losing His Record
One of the artists Langley passed has already weighed in.
Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” spent 19 weeks at No. 1 before “Choosin’ Texas” moved beyond it.
During an appearance on the Smallzy Show, Shaboozey did not sound bitter about losing the mark.
“Records are meant to be broken,” he said, before congratulating Langley and calling “Choosin’ Texas” a great record and song.
That is a pretty good way to look at what country music has been doing on the Hot 100 lately.
A few years ago, seeing one country song dominate the all-genre chart for months would have felt unusual.
Now one country hit has broken the record set by another.
This Is Bigger Than the Country Chart
The Billboard Hot 100 is not a country-only ranking.
It measures songs across genres, making Langley’s run a crossover story rather than simply another strong performance at country radio.
“Choosin’ Texas” has also topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and found success well beyond the United States. In September, it climbed to No. 1 on the official U.K. singles chart, giving Langley her first British chart-topper.
That crossover reach matters.
The song has not needed to stop sounding like country music in order to become a pop-culture hit.
Its writers leaned into heartbreak, steel guitar and a story built around somebody choosing Texas over a relationship.
Apparently, millions of people were willing to follow.
The Nashville Moment Gets Even Bigger at the CMA Awards
Langley’s record-setting year is also spilling directly into Nashville’s biggest awards season.
She leads the field for the 2026 CMA Awards with nine nominations, according to the Associated Press.
Those nominations include Entertainer of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year and multiple honors tied to her music. “Choosin’ Texas” is nominated for Single of the Year, and Langley also landed a second nomination in that category for “Be Her.”
The CMA Awards will be held Nov. 18 at Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville.
So Nashville could go from watching Langley chase an all-time Billboard record in September to watching her walk into Bridgestone as the year’s most-nominated CMA artist two months later.
That is quite a jump for any artist.
Miranda Lambert’s Role Is Worth Watching Too
There is another Nashville angle hiding inside Langley’s success.
Miranda Lambert is not simply a featured mentor standing on the sidelines.
She helped write and produce “Choosin’ Texas,” and her work with Langley’s Dandelion project has also earned her recognition during CMA Awards season.
That relationship says something about how Nashville’s songwriting community works when it is at its best.
An established superstar can sit down with a younger artist, write a song, help shape the record and then watch that song become bigger than anyone in the room could have reasonably expected.
In March, Langley told reporters that although the writers knew they liked the song, there was no way to predict this kind of chart run.
That is probably putting it mildly.
Nobody walks into a Nashville writing session planning to tie Mariah Carey for an all-time Billboard record.
One More Week Could Change the Record Book
The next chart update suddenly matters a lot.
If “Choosin’ Texas” remains at No. 1 for a 23rd total week, Langley will stand alone with the most weeks ever spent atop the Billboard Hot 100.
If it falls, the tie with Carey will still be historic.
Either way, “Choosin’ Texas” has already done something Nashville will probably be talking about for a long time.
It broke the non-holiday record.
It passed “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”
It helped propel Langley to the most CMA nominations of any artist this year.
And now a country song built by a Nashville songwriting team is sitting level with one of the most durable hits in American pop history.
Not bad for a song about somebody choosing Texas.
Sources
Pitchfork, Sept. 14, 2026 — “Choosin’ Texas” reaches 22 total weeks at No. 1 and ties the all-time Hot 100 record.
MusicRow, Sept. 1, 2026 — Langley breaks the non-holiday Hot 100 record at 20 weeks and passes the 19-week mark set by “Old Town Road” and “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”
MusicRow, March 19, 2026 — Nashville BMI celebration and songwriting credits for “Choosin’ Texas.”
Associated Press, Sept. 2026 — Langley leads the 2026 CMA Awards with nine nominations.
The Smallzy Show — Shaboozey reacts to Langley surpassing the 19-week record.
Official Charts — U.K. chart performance for “Choosin’ Texas.”
