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Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” is unquestionably the biggest hit single of the year, and all that’s left to decide is where the seemingly unstoppable song ultimately
lands among the biggest chart hits of all time. The country crossover smash just landed its 17th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, which gives it still more bragging rights, as the tune is now in sole possession of the No. 4 spot on the list of historic chart-topping streaks.
As of last week, “Choosin’ Texas” was tied with three other songs that had also landed 16 weeks at No. 1: Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night,” Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” and Mariah Carey and Boys II Men’s “One Sweet Day.” Now that she has left those songs in the dust, there are just three more tunes to surpass to set an all-time record: Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” and Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” each of which was No. 1 for 19 weeks, and Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas,” the all-time record-holder with 22 weeks on top. Not long ago, it would have seemed impossible to imagine anyone edging past Carey’s holiday perennial, but with the roll Langley is on, another six weeks at No. 1 is not a laughable goal.
One reason to think that “Choosin’ Texas” may not be slowing down much, if at all, on its march toward setting further records: it just reached the top 10 on Billboard’s pop airplay chart for the first time this week, as stations that would have never, ever played a traditional country song find themselves giving in to audience demand. Overall radio play for the song was up 4% for the week, because of the added pop play, according to Billboard.
Langley landed another week at the top despite a strong showing from Ariana Grande, who has two songs in the top 10 as a result of the “Petal” album’s release. Leadoff single “Hate That I Made You Love Me,” which debuted on top when it came out in May, jumped back up from No. 8 to No. 2. One other song from the new set made it into the upper ranks: “Petal,” the album’s title track, debuted at No. 4.
Of course, the Grande resurgence means that country songs do not occupy all five of the chart’s top spots, as they did on last week’s historic chart. But the representation for the genre is barely diminished. Wallen’s “Been by Now” dropped just one position, to No. 3, in its second week out. Taylor Swift’s “I Knew It, I Knew You” fell two spots to No. 5. Stella Lefty’s freshman smash “Boston” dropped a single spot to No. 6. The Wallen/Langley duet “I Can’t Love You Anymore” dropped three slots to No. 7. And Langley’s “Be Her” slipped one spot to No. 10.
Obviously, there is not much room in the top 10 at present for anyone who is not either a country star or Ariana Grande. But two songs that don’t fit either of those criteria made the grade. “Dracula” by Tame Impala and Jennie is at No. 8, down two spots from last week, and Olivia Dean’s “So Easy (to Fall in Love)” is right behind it at No. 9, also down two slots.
While Grande wasn’t able to surge past Langley to reclaim the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100, she does own the top position on the Billboard 200 album chart with “Petal,” as reported Sunday. (Langley’s “Dandelion” album is No. 4 on that chart.)
This week’s metrics for “Choosin’ Texas,” as reported by Billboard, add up to 24.9 million official streams (down 2% for the week) and 54.5 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 4%)..
If “Choosin’ Texas” manages to go the distance and somehow beat “All I Want for Christmas” as the all-time leader in weeks at No. 1, it may be a short-lived victory, of course, since the Carey song has tended to go No. 1 for a few weeks every December in recent years. But who knows — at this rate, listeners could yet choose Texas over Xmas.
