\u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas\u201d is a ballad rife with the kind of tuneful betrayal, broken-hearted pathos, and chin-up redemption that have defined the country genre since the height of Dolly Parton and George Jones. It also manages to be upbeat and pleasant, like a line dance with friends. There\u2019s a timeless feel; it\u2019s easy to imagine it pouring out of speakers following a Ronnie Milsap song in the \u201980s, Garth Brooks in the \u201990s, or Taylor Swift in the early \u201900s.<\/p>\n
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Yet Langley\u2019s smash hit stands alone. <\/p>\n
\u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas\u201d is now the longest-running No. 1 hit in Billboard Hot 100 history. It has topped the pop charts for 24 weeks. (Swift\u2019s \u201cPatient Zero\u201d knocked it to No. 2 this week, but it will be back.) It has surpassed Mariah Carey\u2019s ubiquitous \u201cAll I Want for Christmas Is You\u201d and blown past country crossovers like Shaboozey\u2019s \u201cA Bar Song (Tipsy)\u201d and Lil\u2019 Nas X\u2019s \u201cOld Town Road.\u201d The 27-year-old Alabama native has spent eight more weeks in the pole position than Mariah Carey & Boys II Men\u2019s \u201cOne Sweet Day,\u201d Morgan Wallen\u2019s \u201cLast Night,\u201d and Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee\u2019s \u201cDespacito,\u201d which featured Justin Bieber. Harry Styles hasn\u2019t come close. Neither has Bad Bunny. Nor the Beatles. <\/p>\n
Why this lovely song? Why, in such polarized times, when one thing we can\u2019t agree on is Texas \u2013 indeed, even Texas seems unable to choose whether it\u2019s going red or blue this fall \u2013 has one song enthralled the entire nation for so long? It\u2019s an extraordinary feat for several reasons. <\/p>\n
After all, though Carey\u2019s chart-topper reappears every year on Black Friday or sooner, Langley\u2019s hit has no holiday affiliation, no time peg on which to hang its cowboy hat. It\u2019s collecting easy streams without holiday playlists, endless loops in Old Navy, or radio stations that shovel holiday cheer 24 hours a day through New Year\u2019s. <\/p>\n
No, since it was released last October, \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas\u201d has made a steady climb to the top on merit alone. It hasn\u2019t been sampled by a rapper or producer, and it hasn\u2019t soundtracked a hip film, a buzzed-about streaming show, or an omnipresent commercial. It doesn\u2019t owe anything to an Instagram influencer. Drake released his remix, titled \u201cSolar Eclipse,\u201d on October 2, but his version followed the song\u2019s success. \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas\u201d became a TikTok hit in the months after its release, but lots of songs go viral. None of them have rested atop the Hot 100 across nearly six months.<\/p>\n
![\"Joybeth](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/5UQCOUBNI7AFYUA7QKYY3TNOXM.jpg\")
Joybeth Taylor, from left, Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick and Ella Langley accepted the award for song of the year for “Choosin’ Texas” during the 61st annual Academy of Country Music Awards in May at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.Chris Pizzello\/AP Photo\/Chris Pizzello<\/p>\n
Roger Miller proved country music could be beloved by pop fans in the 1960s with \u201cKing of the Road.\u201d Dolly Parton defended the thesis in the 1980s with \u201c9 to 5\u201d and a cherished duet with Kenny Rogers, \u201cIslands in the Stream.\u201d Taylor Swift ascended into pop supremacy in the new millennium. But lately? We\u2019ve been a niche nation. Not even Swift has had this success with one song. Billboard reports<\/a> that just over 1,500 songs have cracked the top 10 since 2000. Only 63 of them were country songs. And only 1.7 percent have been country songs by women.<\/p>\n The triumph of \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas\u201d is also remarkable given that the prevailing narrative about women in country music has centered on the systemic discrimination they experienced from Nashville\u2019s Music Row and other industry forces. Country radio stations even had policies against playing two women artists in a row<\/a>. \u201cBro country\u201d \u2014 tailgates, pickups, girls \u2014 dominated the airwaves. <\/p>\n That began to change when visionary artists such as Kacey Musgraves, Margo Price, Kelsea Ballerini, and Lainey Wilson came into their own, and veterans including Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood continued to assert their power. That\u2019s not to say that the problem of inequality in country music is solved. Far from it. But Langley\u2019s dominance is far and away the clearest signal that something important has changed.<\/p>\n The blockbuster nature of \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas\u201d also reflects the fact that country music is the most popular genre of music in America, from Brooklyn to Bakersfield \u2014 one that pop stars, rappers and indie-rock darlings like M.J. Lenderman and Waxahatchee have embraced with aplomb. <\/p>\n It\u2019s not unusual for mainstream popular music to absorb the sonics and general timbre of its adjacent genres. At the turn of the 21st century, the Autotune, 808s, and lyrical flow of hip-hop became the prevailing sound of songs that were played on Top 40 radio. <\/p>\n Whether country music will achieve the same level of sonic ubiquity remains to be seen, but its popularity suggests a broader desire for unity among everyday working people<\/a>, those who\u2019ve been systematically divided by false binaries into red and blue states<\/a>, and by narrowly tailored Spotify playlists<\/a>. If we all choose \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas,\u201d perhaps we\u2019re more alike than we think.<\/p>\n Maybe as the digital fog burns off and millennials have brought about a resurgence <\/a>of CD sales <\/a>in order to own their own music and defeat AI-driven narrowcasting, there is a greater awareness that perhaps it is algorithms that help keep us apart<\/a>. Maybe it\u2019s an extension of the same progressive populist sentiment that prompted the rise of folk music in the 1940s (and the folk music revival in the 1960s), the commercial dominance of heartland rock in the 1980s, and the meteoric rise of rap and hip-hop in the 1990s. \u201cThis land was made for you and me.\u201d \u201cNo, I won\u2019t back down.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019ve got to fight the powers that be.\u201d <\/p>\n