Ella Langley's 'Choosin' Texas' ties Mariah Carey's all-time Hot 100 record

Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas" spent a 22nd non-consecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the chart dated Sept. 19, 2026, pulling the 27-year-old country singer level with Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" for the most weeks any song has spent atop the chart in its 68-year history.

The tie was confirmed as Billboard's weekly chart update posted, and it caps a run that began in mid-February and has stretched, with interruptions, through the spring and summer. One additional week at No. 1 would make Langley the outright record holder, surpassing Carey's holiday standard, which was built up across multiple Decembers rather than in a single unbroken stretch.

The numbers

"Choosin' Texas" first reached No. 1 the week of Feb. 14, 2026, and has held the top spot for 22 total weeks since, a tally interrupted at various points by songs from Bruno Mars, Bad Bunny, Taylor Swift, BTS, Olivia Rodrigo, Drake and Ariana Grande, among others, before the song reclaimed the summit each time. Since the Fourth of July, it has not left No. 1.

• 22 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100, tying Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You"
• Longest run ever for a non-holiday song, having already passed Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" and Shaboozey's "A Bar Song (Tipsy)," which each held 19 weeks
• Certified six-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, according to the RIAA's Gold & Platinum database
• Langley's album "Dandelion" returned to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 the same week, its third nonconsecutive week atop that chart

Langley also became the first female artist to top the Hot 100, Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts simultaneously with the same song, a distinction Billboard's chart archive notes had previously belonged only to male or mixed-gender acts.

How a breakup song built a record run

Langley, born in Hope Hull, Alabama, signed to Columbia Records and Sony Music Nashville in 2023 after a Grand Ole Opry debut, and first cracked the Hot 100 in 2024 with the Riley Green duet "You Look Like You Love Me," which peaked at No. 30. "Choosin' Texas," released in October 2025 as the lead single from "Dandelion," was written during an October 2024 songwriting retreat with Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick and Joybeth Taylor, and produced by Langley with Lambert and Ben West. According to background compiled from the song's writers and label, the concept grew out of a story Lambert told about an ex-boyfriend and a Texas license plate; the song, about recognizing the signs a partner's attention has drifted elsewhere, was reportedly finished in about half an hour.

The track built its audience gradually rather than exploding out of the gate, debuting outside the Hot 100's top 30 before steadily climbing on the strength of country radio, streaming and a viral run on TikTok, where the song's hook has been used in more than a million videos. Its steel-guitar arrangement and references to George Strait, Jerry Reed and Ronnie Milsap songs helped position it as a crossover hit that pulled traditional country listeners and pop and streaming audiences into the same chart position at once, a combination that has become increasingly common but rarely this durable.

Who is affected

The milestone lands squarely in the middle of country music's awards season. Langley leads nominees for the 60th Annual CMA Awards with nine nominations, including entertainer of the year, album of the year for "Dandelion," two nods apiece in the single and song of the year categories for "Choosin' Texas" and "Be Her," female vocalist of the year, and musical event of the year for a collaboration with Morgan Wallen. The ceremony airs live from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 18 on ABC and Disney+.

The record also has implications beyond Langley herself. Sony Music Nashville and Columbia Records, which signed Langley in 2023, gain a marquee commercial and critical success heading into a competitive fall release calendar. Co-writer and producer Miranda Lambert, already one of country's most decorated songwriters, adds another commercial peak to a catalog built largely around album cuts rather than crossover pop hits. And the achievement adds fuel to an ongoing conversation in the music industry about country music's expanding footprint on the all-genre chart, following breakthrough years for artists such as Shaboozey and Morgan Wallen.

Reaction

Langley's own public reaction has been modest relative to the scale of the achievement. She described the milestone as "insane" in an Instagram Stories post after the record-tying week was confirmed, a reaction first reported by Fox News. Earlier in the song's run, as it became the longest-charting non-holiday No. 1 in Hot 100 history, she offered a more reflective assessment of the song's staying power.

"We loved the song when we wrote it, but none of us thought that it would be the song to do everything it's doing," Langley said.

Industry reaction has largely taken the form of chart commentary rather than formal statements, with Billboard and trade outlets noting that a run of this length, uninterrupted since early July, is unusual even by the standards of the streaming era, when songs can linger on charts far longer than they did in the album-sales-driven decades that produced most of the Hot 100's longest-tenured hits.

What happens next

The next Hot 100 update, covering the tracking week ending in late September, will determine whether "Choosin' Texas" claims the record outright with a 23rd week at No. 1 or is finally displaced, which would leave it tied with Carey rather than surpassing her. Billboard's tracking data, compiled from streaming, radio airplay and sales, will be released in the coming days. A win at the CMA Awards in November, particularly in the single or song of the year categories, would formalize an achievement that has so far been measured almost entirely in chart mathematics. Industry analysts have also begun discussing Langley's positioning for the Grammy Awards, where a historic chart run is often, though not always, reflected in nominations for record of the year and song of the year.