5 reasons why 'Choosin Texas' is now the longest-running No. 1 hit of all time

This week, for the 23rd time, country star Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas" sits at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Those 23 nonconsecutive weeks are an all-time record, though the singer's hold on that mantle could well be brief: Langley snatches the record from the Queen of Christmas herself, Mariah Carey, whose 1994 standard "All I Want for Christmas Is You" hit its 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd week at No.1 just this past December.There'll be plenty of questions to answer in the coming months, such as, "Will 'Choosin' Texas' and 'All I Want for Christmas' simply trade places atop the Hot 100, year in and year out, until the heat death of the universe?" and "Could we interest America in a different song, perhaps?" and "Why, God, why?" (Of course, Tuesday brought news of a third potential juggernaut, in the form of a new Taylor Swift single, "Patient Zero," dropping Friday.)But future-casting can wait for another day.

Let's take a look at how we got here — and survey just how and why "Choosin' Texas" has come to define and dominate the pop charts in 2026.1.It's a good song! Endless repetition at the top of the pop charts can get a little dispiriting — imagine surveying the movie industry's box-office breakdown, only to learn that everyone's still swarming theaters to see F1: The Movie — but we could do, and have done, a lot worse than "Choosin' Texas." A relatable lament about losing a guy to a pretty stranger, "Choosin' Texas" feels surprisingly full-grown for the top of a chart so frequently dominated by youthful pop earworms.

It references "Amarillo by Morning"! It's lonesome, it's twangy, it's catchy as all get out, and it's above all timeless; you could imagine it being sung by, say, Tammy Wynette.In a way, it's country's counterpart to the songs of Olivia Dean, in that they'd be hits in any of the past 50 years.2.

The country audience, traditionally served by radio, has shifted to streaming.Setting Mariah aside for a moment, take a look at the other son...