Ella Langley continued her year of career milestones on Sept. 10, dominating the list of nominees announced for the 60th Annual CMA Awards.
Langley will head into the Nov. 18 show with a grand total of nine nominations, including recognition in categories like entertainer of the year, female vocalist of the year and single of the year. Her field-leading presence stems largely from the runaway success of her hit single, "Choosin' Texas," which has become a historic smash across country music and beyond.
The grooving modern two-stepper was first released on Oct. 17, 2025, winning over country purists and casual fans from the start. It has now spent 21 weeks at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, putting it one week away from tying
the all-time record held by Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You."
The Billboard Hot 100 measures U.S. streaming data across all genres (not just country music), plus radio airplay and sales data, and "Choosin' Texas" has been at No. 1 for the last 11 consecutive weeks.
Back in July, The Tennessean reported on the song's ongoing success (it had 14 weeks at No. 1 at the time), with conflicting views from experts on whether or not Langley's run would continue. Luminate noted “Choosin’ Texas” was the No. 1 on-demand audio song in the U.S. for the first half of 2026, with more than 570 million streams.
Meanwhile, the 6x platinum hit also reached No. 1 on country radio stations, as well as the top of international charts from Canada, Australia, Ireland, the U.K. and New Zealand.
A user poll conducted by jukebox company TouchTunes named "Choosin' Texas" the 2026 Song of the Summer (as did Billboard), and the song has been a steady leader among the year's user-generated content (UGC), which is when fans “clip” portions of a song to use in their own social media posts.
But "Choosin' Texas" doesn't tell the whole story of Langley's 2026 CMA Awards dominance. The Alabama native actually has a rare double dip in both the single of the year and song of the year categories, with the infectious "Be Her" also chosen by CMA voters. To say her odds seem good in those categories is a scientific fact, and she's also in the album of the year field for her sophomore album, "Dandelion."
The true test of Langley's meteoric year will come at the end of the 60th Annual CMA Awards, when she enters the entertainer of the year field for the first time. She'll be up against Luke Combs, Cody Johnson, Chris Stapleton and Lainey Wilson, each of whom have won an entertainer of the year prize from either the CMA or ACM in the past. But none of them have had the year Langley has.
In fact, her historic 2026 may include one more important milestone before the CMA Awards even start. At the prediction market Kalshi, 97% of traders think "Choosin' Texas" will spend at least three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September. That would let Langley tie Carey's record, but expectations don't stop there. The same 97% of Kalshi traders think the song will score four weeks at No. 1 this month, breaking the all-time mark and sealing Langley's historic year.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Ella Langley dominates 2026 CMA Awards field with nine nominations
