The Queen of Christmas is no longer the ruler of the singles chart.
Ella Langley’s song “Choosin’ Texas,” an old-fashioned country ballad about a two-state love triangle, held the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for a 23rd week, surpassing the record set by Mariah Carey’s holiday standby “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” the publication announced on Tuesday.
The achievement crowns Langley, 27, as the new record-holder on Billboard’s flagship singles chart. “Choosin’ Texas,” which came out last October, first reached No. 1 in February and bobbed in and out of the top spot for a few months, before holding at No. 1 steadily since July. Unlike many hybridized country hits recently, Langley’s track, which she wrote with Miranda Lambert and two others, is a classic slice of heartsick, Nashville-style songcraft, with nostalgic allusions to songs by George Strait and Ronnie Milsap.
Positions on the Hot 100 are calculated through a formula that incorporates streams, download sales and radio airplay. Last week, “Choosin’ Texas” had 21.8 million streams in the United States, along with 6,000 sales and about 58 million “airplay audience impressions,” a measurement of the song’s popularity on broadcast radio.
Long runs at No. 1 used to be rare, with the 16 weeks notched by Carey and Boyz II Men for their candied 1995 ballad “One Sweet Day” holding for 21 years. Since then, “Despacito” (2017), the Latin landmark by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, with Justin Bieber, and Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” (2023) have also hit 16 weeks. Harry Styles’s “As It Was” (2022) came close, with 15. And Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” (2019), with Billy Ray Cyrus, and Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (2024) each ruled for 19 weeks.
Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” has been a seasonal standard since it came out in 1994. But it took 25 years for the song to reach No. 1, finally hitting the top position just before Christmas in 2019, helped by streaming playlists and by Carey’s escalating annual marketing push, which has included Christmas-themed concerts, a children’s book, an animated film and a mini-documentary.
How much longer can Langley rule the chart? With no strong contenders on the horizon it could be a while. On the other hand, Christmas is just around the corner.
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