Ella Langley’s song spent its 23rd week atop the Billboard charts. (AP Photo)
Country singer Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” has become the longest-running No. 1 song in the history of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, surpassing Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
The midtempo country heartbreak song, released in October, spent its 23rd week at the top of the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart, Billboard announced on Sept. 22. Carey’s 1994 Christmas classic had previously held the record with 22 weeks at No. 1.
Langley’s song has also surpassed records set by Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” and Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.”
The Billboard Hot 100 ranking combines streaming, radio play and sales data, with figures compiled by music industry data and analytics company Luminate.
“Choosin’ Texas” has become a major cross-genre hit despite its relatively understated sound. Luminate data showed that the song had generated 911 million on-demand streams in the United States and 1.26 billion globally as of mid-August.
The song’s success has also marked a rapid rise for Langley, 27. The Alabama native had fewer than 1 million monthly listeners on Spotify when she made her Grand Ole Opry debut in 2023. She now has more than 32 million monthly listeners on the platform.
In a video posted on Instagram, Langley said the achievement had transformed her life as well as those of the song’s writers and her family.
