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Country music is ruling the roost like never before, at least when it comes specifically to the Billboard Hot 100. For the first time in history, country songs are claiming all five of the top five slots on the Hot 100. That’s
thanks to Ella Langley and Morgan Wallen, who currently stand at No. 1 on the singles and albums charts, respectively… and to Taylor Swift’s return to country for a hit soundtrack… and to newcomer Stella Lefty officially joining the ranks of hitmakers.
To no one’s surprise, Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas,” the biggest single of 2026 so far, maintains its No. 1 perch in chart results reported by Billboard on Monday. Wallen’s new single, “Been by Now,” premieres at No. 2. Taylor Swift’s “I Knew It, I Knew You” gets pushed down one spot on this week’s chart, now landing at No. 3. In the fourth position is a duet between Langley and Wallen, “I Can’t Love You Anymore.” And coming in at No. 5 is Lefty’s career-making “Boston,” down two slots from last week, but still with plenty of room to grow.
So many statistical anomalies are included in this top 5, it’s hard to know where to begin, although the aforementioned stat about this congregation of songs establishing a collective chart record is a good place to start.
The headline any other week might be about Langley’s ongoing winning streak at the top of the chart. This is the 16th week at No. 1 with “Choosin’ Texas,” which puts Langley in ever-more-rarefied territory. “Texas” is now tied for a historic fourth place for the number of weeks spent at No. 1. The three singles it is tied with for that sweet 16 number are Wallen’s “Last Night,” Mariah Carey’s and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day” and the Luis Fonsi/Daddy Yankee/Justin Bieber monster “Despacito.”
So, what are the next thresholds for “Choosin’ Texas” to cross? If Langley holds on to No. 1 for just one more week — which is a highly likely prospect — then she will still be in fourth place on the all-time streak chart, just no longer tied for it. The next tier for her would be meeting or surpassing the two songs that are tied for second, at 19 weeks each — Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Old Town Road.” If she gets to 20 weeks at No. 1, she will hold the record for the most weeks for a non-holiday song. Then, the final frontier would be whether she could beat Mariah Carey’s annual perennial “All I Want for Christmas,” which, at 22 nonconsecutive weeks, is a tough one for anyone to beat. Tagging on seven more weeks to the current 16 to claim the all-time record sounds impossible, but the song has surpassed so many expectations already that it might be foolish to bet against it.
Looking at the top 10 for this week, country has six out of those 10, since Langley’s second-most-popular track, “Be Her” is in at No. 9.
The non-country songs rounding the top 10 this week are Tame Impala and Jennie’s “Dracula” at No. 6, Olivia Dean’s “So Easy (To Fall in Love)” at No. 7, Ariana Grande’s “Hate That I Made You Love Me” at No. 8 and Dean’s “Man I Need” at No. 10.
Dean having two songs in the top 10 and Langley having three (one of them a Wallen collaboration) may provide a glimpse of what the Grammy competition holds in store a few months from now. Voters in the four general categories have turned up their noses at country contenders for years, but Langley will provide the true test of whether the Recording Academy can really keep snubbing country or whether her dominance will mean it’s time to cry uncle.
