A Traditional Country Song is Now The First 4-Week #1 All-Genre By A Country Woman
The records just keep on coming for Ella Langley and her mega hit “Choosin’ Texas.” But this one might be the biggest of them all, taking Ella somewhere that no woman in country music has ever gone before.
This week, Ella Langley marks four weeks total for “Choosin’ Texas” being the most popular song in all of music, topping Billboard’s all-genre Hot Country Songs chart at #1. This is something that’s never happened before for a country woman in history. Not even Taylor Swift accomplished this when she was still considered “country” with her massive crossover hits. The closest Swift ever got was three weeks at #1 for “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” in 2012.
Only three other songs from country women made it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. This includes Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” from 1981, and the crossover hit “Islands in the Stream” with Kenny Rogers in 1983. Of course, Kenny shares in the accolades for the second one. Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” was also classified as country, but only spent two weeks at #1 as well.
What all of these other songs have in common is they were distinctly pop crossover tracks. “Choosin’ Texas” has officially crossed over in to pop and in a big way, but it’s ultimately still a traditional-leaning country song about two-step dancing with prominent steel guitar. That’s what makes this feat so phenomenal, especially since Ella didn’t need a male duet partner or hip-hop remix to accomplish it.
Along with the record-setting week atop the Billboard Hot 100, “Choosin’ Texas” also spends its 17th week at #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It’s also enjoying its fourth week at #1 on the Streaming Songs chart, while it also sits at #2 on the Digital Songs Sales chart, and #9 on the all-genre Radio Songs chart.
Simply put, “Choosin’ Texas” remains a monster, and is now one of the most popular and accomplished songs in country music history. Named Saving Country Music’s 2025 Single of the Year, the song was co-written and co-produced by Miranda Lambert with Ella Langley. Luke Dick and Joybeth Taylor also share songwriting credits.
“Choosin’ Texas” is showing a teeny tiny indication of slowing down. It’s streams this week of 21.8 million is officially down 4%, and its radio audience is down an estimated 3%. But the song released in October of 2025 still might be on track to be one of the biggest singles in all of music all year.
Ella Langley’s new album Dandelion is set for release April 10th, and is also likely to soar on the charts upon release. It’s not that country music has a new superstar. It’s that America music has a new superstar. And this one is country.
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March 24, 2026 @ 7:55 am
And Johnny Blue Sky’s Mutiny After Midnight debuts at #3 on the Billboard 200 list. Achieved selling old school physical copies only. Just as predicted here —- not. Put that in yer pipe and smoke it.
March 24, 2026 @ 8:07 am
Come on dude lol
March 24, 2026 @ 8:25 am
I’m happy for Sturgill Simpson. “Mutiny After Midnight” is a fun album that I enjoyed listening to.
For the record, I didn’t predict failure or a mediocre performance for “Mutiny After Midnight.” On the contrary, I predicted it would do very well since physical copies are weighted so heavily in the charts. I also didn’t write a negative review for the album like I’ve also been strangely accused of. I think it’s a good album and I’m glad for its success. Strangely, people accused me of the same exact things for the last Tyler Childers record when the opposite was the case.
There is now officially an aggressive, and frankly, irresponsible Stan culture that has been created around Sturgill Simpson, illustrated by the irrational exuberance you only see around Beyonce and K-pop bands. Everything has to be subservient to Sturgill, which creates inequities in the attention economy, while also undermining community by demanding fans and outlets express Sturgill’s unmitigated “10/10” brilliance or be subject to ad hominem attacks.
Ella Langley is a country artist doing incredible things with a country song. That’s what our focus should be here. I might address the Sturgill release at some point, but it’s not a country album, and didn’t chart on the country charts. I think it will be interesting to see where it is next week, or weeks from now like this Ella Langley track.
March 24, 2026 @ 3:07 pm
I’m of an age that I have no idea what this Stan thing is. I’ve also never been blinded by Sturgill Simpson’s brilliance because I barely know who he is. (My phone made Sturgill Stargell, like the old Pittsburgh Pirate. That Autocorrect is really smart.)
There is now officially an aggressive, and frankly, irresponsible Stan culture that has been created around Sturgill Simpson, illustrated by the irrational exuberance you only see around Beyonce and K-pop bands. Everything has to be subservient to Sturgill, which creates inequities in the attention economy, while also undermining community by demanding fans and outlets express Sturgill’s unmitigated “10/10” brilliance or be subject to ad hominem attacks.
March 24, 2026 @ 5:55 pm
I think part of it can be attributed to the fact Sturgill Simpson was the very first current country artist the likes of Pitchfork/AV Club/Sputnikmusic, etc. admitted to loving with a straight face about a decade ago……………and at least at that time plugged their fingers in their ears toward all other country acts unless they were more “alt-country” or closer to “indie” (think James McMurtry, Neko Case, eventually Jason Isbell, etc.)
More recently I feel like those who learn of new releases through those ecosystems have warmed up a bit more to some additional acts like Red Clay Strays and Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country for example…………….but for the most part you wouldn’t see them caught dead listening to most the rest of the big tent of country music covered and reviewed here because they’re just stubbornly dead-set in their ways.
March 24, 2026 @ 5:41 pm
I’ve observed many Sturgill Stans arguing that “Mutiny After Midnight” is his magnum opus of sorts: which I just find a really laughable assertion.
I too found “Mutiny After Midnight” a lot of fun to listen to as I said…………but the point is I enjoy it for what it is: a hedonistic, groove-oriented, live-show-geared album you can easily dance to. It’s really neither any more or any less than that to me. So even though I get taste is subjective and I certainly respect others’ opinions and their rights to express them: if one is going to assert that an album like “Mutiny After Midnight” is his crowning artistic achievement or career masterpiece to date……….I’m seriously going to question their judgment on what makes for particularly compelling art because I don’t consider it even relatively close to the heights of creative and conceptual ambition of “A Sailor’s Guide To Earth”, “Passage du Desir” and “Metamodern Sounds Of Country Music” nor songwriting-wise to “High Top Mountain”.
It really isn’t all that different from those who insist ever album Morgan Wallen releases is either a 0/10 or a 10/10 because of how much his behavior and/or assumed ideology is in accord or at opposition with the beholder’s.
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Anyway, going back to Langley………………it honestly isn’t surprising that “Choosin’ Texas” appears to have hit a ceiling at Mainstream Top 40 as well as Adult Top 40 radio. I predicted previously that it would certainly get some mainstream crossover airplay…………….but the reality is that the median Mainstream Top 40 listener is going to have more of a hard limit on how much twang they want compared to those already long acclimated to country radio. What helped get many listeners into the door was how reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac the song’s production, breezy and hazy instrumentation and even Langley’s vocal timbre………….but the fact there is still a generous dose of pedal steel as well as twang in Langley’s vocals was always realistically going to prove a bit too much for a sizable swath of Mainstream Top 40 listeners.
Not that the following song was country to begin with………….but I recall a similar situation with Walker Hayes’ “Fancy Like” where it also fell just short of the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and also garnered a decent amount of crossover airplay………..but it fell short of the Top Ten on pop radio because it just had too much twang for a pop song. There’s always going to be a limit as to how far you can push an unmistakably more-country-than-anything song up the pop radio charts, but the fact “Choosin’ Texas” has even gotten as much crossover airplay as it has is a resounding success.
March 24, 2026 @ 5:44 pm
Ella Langley is a country artist doing incredible things with a country song. That’s what our focus should be here.
Agree 100%
March 24, 2026 @ 9:52 am
Sturgill Simpsons not a Country artist. Hasn’t been in years.
Any amount of physical sales even 15-20k units is a big deal in the charts. But overall in the general population of the US its not even slightly significant. He’s a very niche artist with a small but loud fan-base.
As for Ella Langley (an actual country artist who apparently actually appreciates a loyal fan-base as far as I can tell) she’s struck paydirt. May it continue for her!
March 24, 2026 @ 5:48 pm
In fairness it wasn’t THAT long ago since he released both editions of “Cuttin’ Grass” as well as “Passage du Desir”………..and the former were undeniably country and bluegrass, while the latter had a lot of the earnest, thoughtful, descriptive songwriting that defined his earlier albums as well as had some country instrumentation on some songs. So even though I feel Simpson’s heart IS in a different place now creatively compared to much of the prior decade……………I certainly don’t think this is the last we’ll see him in country music.
As for Langley: I’m excited as well as curious to see how long she can maintain that crossover presence and buzz that she is currently riding while continuing to establish herself in country. “Be Her” seems to me like another song that has the potential to generate a lot of crossover buzz as well with the light disco influence.
March 24, 2026 @ 8:06 am
I got a pretty noticeable soft spot for Ella, since “Like my daddy done” but damn, “Be Her” is bad and I hope they shove that in the kitchen junk drawer when the album comes out.
Still love the kid tho and super happy to hear this.
March 24, 2026 @ 2:13 pm
Too late to discard “Be Her.” It’s already the next single from the upcoming album and is on the airplay chart already. Of the other songs she’s put out as previews of the upcoming album, “Dandelion” and “Loving Life Again,” I really like the latter, while the former is growing on me. Like you, I’m curious to see what direction she is committing herself to come next month. She may be the rare artist who is versatile enough to go in several directions in the same album and still retain integrity and quality, but obviously, a whole album of songs as tasty as “Choosin’ Texas,” “Girl You’re Taking Home” and several other of her earlier songs would be the ideal outcome.
March 24, 2026 @ 6:02 pm
I feel like Langley is really leaning into a full range of her musical influences growing up for her forthcoming album.
Many already say she looks like Linda Ronstadt, and honestly I’m sensing a lot of 70s and early 80s influences among all of the promotional singles thus far. Usually when artists who had initial success on the country charts crossover: they stylistically tend to scarcely be country to begin with and thus cater toward the trends of younger listeners on Mainstream Top 40 radio at the time……………..but with Langley I think it’s almost the polar opposite. I think she’s actually courting many OLDER listeners who remain nostalgic for the likes of Fleetwood Mac and miss hearing that sort of thing on the current charts (“Rumours” has consistently charted between #15 and #30 on the Billboard 200 for months now), hence why “Choosin’ Texas” has gotten a lot of crossover airplay even despite its generous amount of twang………….because it is evocative of Fleetwood Mac.
March 25, 2026 @ 12:55 pm
“OLDER”
I’m an antique ‘n near blind, but I hear pretty well – you don’t have to yell.
Also astute observation.
March 25, 2026 @ 2:55 pm
“I’m sensing a lot of 70s and early 80s influences among all of the promotional singles thus far.”
You’re sensing well. When Ella walked into the sessions for “Choosin’ Texas” she had a list of late ’70s early ’80s female singers she wanted the song to sound like. Calling it a traditional country song is a huge stretch, but it blows pretty much everything else on the charts today masking as country away.
March 24, 2026 @ 8:08 am
This is super cool! I will be checking out her album when it drops. Hope it’s more like this.
March 24, 2026 @ 8:36 am
Ella Langley is kinda like the Country music version of Sade. Vocally she is doing things that are technically “wrong” by ending certain phrases with a talking sorta whisper, but emotion stands out. The shy girl demeanor thing along with being objectively attractive also helps. This is more of a hot take but I think the reason beyond her looks that are drawing guys to her as an artist is because she doesn’t lean into the girl power bullshit like some other female artists – and big surprise….she has more male listeners.
March 24, 2026 @ 9:13 am
Ummm…huh?
March 24, 2026 @ 9:30 am
What exactly are you confused about?
March 24, 2026 @ 9:45 am
Unironically lives life as a caricature, and has found a medium more suitable and rewarding than any major social media to give him prompts that allow him to show how by-the-books stereotypical he can be.
Funny how firmly and far a stick of stupid can be lodged up someone’s ass, parading him around like a puppet, making a show of himself without being aware of it, thinking that all his “natural” positions on things have him heads and shoulders above everyone else – based on notions of “it’s right because it came from my brain,” and “it came from my brain, so it must be right,” when it comes to loving the scent of his own farts.
March 24, 2026 @ 11:22 am
You ‘like’ your own comments.
March 24, 2026 @ 10:52 pm
Lol, I never saw Ella as having a shy deamoner.
March 25, 2026 @ 11:59 am
She admits to this in interviews.
March 25, 2026 @ 2:56 pm
“…technically wrong…” 😂
Stop it.
March 24, 2026 @ 9:29 am
I’m not necessarily surprised that this song is a country hit. We all mostly agreed when Trig added it to the playlist long before it took off that it was a decent to good song. What does shock me is the crossover success. Beyond the pedal steel (which most non-country listeners probably don’t even know what instrument makes that sound) is her undeniable Alabama twang. Around here we’re all so used to twangy vocals it sounds perfectly normal to us. But for folks listening to Olivia Dean and Harry Styles all day it does surprise me their ears like it. And Straight is right, she does end certain phrases in a very unique way but I hear it more as a higher condensed note (like a vocal flip maybe) than a whisper. It is distinctly Ella that’s for sure. Good for her and good for real country music. Ella is easy to root for as she comes across as likable and humble from the little social media I’ve taken the time to check out on her.
March 24, 2026 @ 9:56 am
It’s a good song. She is country and it is a country song. It has to be good the genre. Well done to her.
March 24, 2026 @ 10:10 am
Unfortunately the follow up single she just released is right back to pop country, erasing all the traditional country gaines she may have made.
March 25, 2026 @ 2:57 pm
This song is pop country, too. Good pop country.
March 24, 2026 @ 4:12 pm
And Ben West. He is also the executive producer on the song and album. It’s not just Miranda and Ella. Been seeing him not included in a few articles.
March 24, 2026 @ 11:59 pm
It would be great if Ella Langley’s success had a positive impact on the careers of other female country artists with more traditional sounds. The proportion of female artists booked at festivals is still very low. First-class women usually play in the early time slots at festivals, while third-class men still get the late time slots. Women are still clearly neglected, not to say ignored, by the radio. Women are significantly less likely to get headline articles in major music magazines – online and in print. Women receive fewer invitations to podcasts and interviews. Women are significantly less likely to be added to high-reach playlists on streaming platforms. It would be great if Ella Langley’s success could help break down this structural disadvantage.
March 25, 2026 @ 1:56 am
…ella langley may never beat this chart moment anymore – after all she just has one of those rare perfect country singles at hand…and on stage. i really look forward to her new album. her phrasing and delivery conveying her own brand of dealing with the inevitable is just something else. this particular success may be astonishing to some but doesn’t at all come out of the blue.
March 25, 2026 @ 8:11 am
It’s so weird because this is such an average song. Both Miranda and Ella have many better recent songs. But, happy for both.