Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” reached its 16th week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 3rd, cementing its place among the most dominant chart runs in the history of popular music.
The milestone puts “Choosin’ Texas” in extraordinarily rare company — only seven songs have ever spent 16 or more weeks at the top of the all-genre chart, which factors in U.S. streaming, radio airplay, and sales data. More than half of those seven are country songs, a striking testament to the genre’s commercial momentum in recent years. The run adds yet another superlative to a song that has already rewritten the record books multiple times over.
A Record-Breaking Climb
Released on October 17, 2025, ahead of Langley’s second studio album Dandelion, “Choosin’ Texas” was co-written with Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, and Joybeth Taylor — and was reportedly inspired by a story involving Lambert and a kangaroo. The song made history at 13 weeks as the longest-running number-one by a female country artist ever recorded on the chart, then broke the record for the longest-leading non-holiday hit by a woman at 15 weeks. It also became the first song by a female artist to simultaneously top the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, and Country Airplay charts at the same time. A star-studded music video contributed to sustaining its momentum.
The Full List of 16-or-More-Week Number Ones
Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night,” released January 31, 2023, as the third single from One Thing At A Time, also sits at 16 weeks. Written by John Byron, Ashley Gorley, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, and Ryan Vojtesak, the track became the first song to accumulate one billion on-demand streams in a single year in the United States and was certified 12× Platinum by the RIAA in December 2025.
Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito,” released January 13, 2017, likewise logged 16 weeks at the summit. Its Justin Bieber remix arrived three months later, and the track topped charts in 47 countries, becoming the first Spanish-language song to lead the Hot 100 since “Macarena” in 1996. Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day,” released November 13, 1995 and co-written with Walter Afanasieff, also spent 16 consecutive weeks at number one — breaking the record at the time and holding it for 23 years.
Above that threshold, Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” and Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” both logged 19 weeks at number one. “Old Town Road,” originally released independently in December 2018 and reissued through Columbia Records in March 2019, set a consecutive-weeks record and became the fastest song certified diamond by the RIAA. “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” released April 12, 2024, is a modern remake of J-Kwon’s 2004 single “Tipsy” and made Shaboozey the first male Black artist to simultaneously top both the Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs.
The current all-time record holder remains Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” which has accumulated 22 weeks at number one across its annual holiday resurgences. Released October 29, 1994, as the lead single from her album Merry Christmas, it set another record of its own — the longest gap between a song’s release and its first chart-topping week, at 25 years — and has sold over 16 million copies worldwide.
With “Choosin’ Texas” still actively charting, the question of whether Langley’s record run has yet reached its ceiling remains very much open.
