How Radio Keeps Choosin' Texas at No. 1 for 25 Weeks

Last checked 2026-10-30

Short answer

Radio kept 'Choosin' Texas' at No. 1. It drew 58.6 million radio audience impressions in the Oct. 16-22 week, per Billboard. The Hot 100 blends airplay with streams and sales. In Swift's final week on top (Oct. 9-15), her edge was sales: 27,000 downloads and 151,000 physical copies. Once 'Patient Zero' fell to No. 5, Langley's radio lead was enough for a 25th week.

What happened Ella Langley's 'Choosin' Texas' returned to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated Oct. 31, 2026, its 25th total week, per Billboard.
Why it matters It extends the all-time record for most weeks at No. 1, which the song took from Mariah Carey on the chart dated Sept. 26, 2026.
The mechanism 58.6 million radio impressions, flat week on week, carried a song that is only No. 4 on Streaming Songs and No. 5 on Digital Song Sales.
What to watch The next chart, dated Nov. 7, posts Tuesday Nov. 3 and will show whether a 26th week follows or a new entry takes over.

Key facts

Weeks at No. 1	25, non-consecutive, across seven distinct stays since Feb. 14, 2026
Previous record	Mariah Carey, 22 weeks cumulative, reached Jan. 3, 2026
Longest unbroken run	14 charts, July 4 to Oct. 3, 2026

The number: 58.6 million

The radio audience for 'Choosin' Texas' was 58.6 million between Oct. 16 and Oct. 22, according to Billboard's Gary Trust, and that figure put Ella Langley's single back at No. 1 on the Hot 100 dated Oct. 31, 2026. The audience was essentially unchanged from the week before.

Streams rose 1% to 20 million. Sales fell 17% to 4,000. On the three charts that feed the Hot 100, the song slipped to No. 4 on Streaming Songs after a record-tying 26 weeks at the top, held at its peak of No. 2 on Radio Songs, and dropped from No. 2 to No. 5 on Digital Song Sales after a record 19 weeks there. So the song leads none of the component charts and still leads the chart that combines them.

The 25th week is a record extension. The song passed Mariah Carey's 22 weeks on the chart dated Sept. 26, 2026, and this latest chart marks its seventh separate stay at No. 1, Billboard said.

Component	Oct. 16-22 figure	Component chart rank
Radio airplay	58.6 million audience impressions (even)	No. 2 on Radio Songs, its peak
Streaming	20 million official streams (up 1%)	No. 4 on Streaming Songs, down from No. 1
Sales	4,000 sold (down 17%)	No. 5 on Digital Song Sales, down from No. 2

'Choosin' Texas' components for the Hot 100 dated Oct. 31, 2026. Source: Billboard.

How can a song be No. 1 without leading streams, radio or sales?

Billboard describes the Hot 100 as a blend of all-genre U.S. streaming, radio airplay and sales data, compiled from Luminate figures over a Friday-to-Thursday tracking week. The practical point is simpler: a song does not need to win any single category. It needs the best combined total.

The week before, the chart dated Oct. 24, shows how the trade-off works. Taylor Swift's 'Patient Zero' held No. 1 with 12.8 million streams, 28.2 million radio impressions, 27,000 downloads and 151,000 physical copies, according to Billboard. 'Choosin' Texas' sat at No. 2.

Swift's edge was sales, by a very wide margin. Langley's edge was radio, at roughly double Swift's audience, with streams also higher (20 million against 12.8 million). Those are consecutive weeks, not the same week, so the comparison is indicative rather than exact. What is known is the outcome: 'Patient Zero' fell from No. 1 to No. 5 on the Oct. 31 chart after three weeks on top, Billboard said. Billboard's Oct. 31 chart story does not give Swift's Oct. 16-22 components.

One caveat on streaming. Billboard narrowed the paid-to-ad-supported stream ratio to 1:2.5 from 1:3 with charts dated Jan. 17, 2026. Billboard does not publish fixed component weights, so the size of that effect on this week's result cannot be calculated from public data.

Song	Tracking week	Streams	Radio audience	Sales
'Patient Zero' (Swift), at No. 1	Oct. 9-15	12.8 million	28.2 million	27,000 downloads + 151,000 physical
'Choosin' Texas' (Langley), at No. 1	Oct. 16-22	20 million	58.6 million	4,000

Back-to-back No. 1 weeks compared. Figures from Billboard; the two songs' weeks are consecutive, not the same week.

How did 25 weeks happen between February and October?

'Choosin' Texas' was released Oct. 17, 2025, and debuted on the Hot 100 dated Nov. 1, 2025. It first reached No. 1 on the chart dated Feb. 14, 2026. Billboard counts nine songs that interrupted the reign: Bad Bunny's 'DtMF', Taylor Swift's 'Opalite', Bruno Mars' 'I Just Might' and BTS' 'Swim'. Next came Olivia Rodrigo's 'Drop Dead', Drake's 'Janice STFU' and Ariana Grande's 'Hate That I Made You Love Me'. Swift added 'I Knew It, I Knew You' and 'Patient Zero', giving her three of the nine.

The arithmetic of the seven stays runs like this: one week on Feb. 14, one on March 7, two on March 21 and 28, three from April 11 to 25, three from May 9 to 23, which made 10 by late May. Then came the long one. From the chart dated July 4 through Oct. 3 the song held No. 1 on 14 consecutive charts, taking the total to 24. The Oct. 31 chart added the 25th. The Hollywood Reporter's figure of 13 consecutive weeks was correct when it was published, on the Sept. 26 chart; the Oct. 3 chart added a 14th.

In the week ending March 12, when the song returned for its third week at No. 1, it had 22.7 million streams, 44.7 million radio impressions and 6,000 sales, according to Billboard. By Sept. 11-17, the record-breaking week, Billboard put it at 21.8 million streams, 58.3 million radio impressions and 6,000 sales. By Oct. 16-22: 20 million streams, 58.6 million radio impressions, 4,000 sales. Over seven months, radio audience rose from 44.7 million to 58.6 million while streams fell from 22.7 million to 20 million and sales from 6,000 to 4,000.

Feb. 14: week 1 (interrupted by 'DtMF', then 'Opalite')
March 7: week 2 (interrupted by 'I Just Might')
March 21-28: weeks 3-4 (interrupted by 'Swim')
April 11-25: weeks 5-7 (interrupted by 'Drop Dead')
May 9-23: weeks 8-10 (interrupted by 'Janice STFU', 'Hate That I Made You Love Me', 'I Knew It, I Knew You')
July 4-Oct. 3: weeks 11-24, 14 straight charts (interrupted by 'Patient Zero')
Oct. 31: week 25

What record did it break, and how do 25 weeks compare?

Billboard's record-setters list runs: 'One Sweet Day' by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men, 16 weeks in 1996; Luis Fonsi's 'Despacito' tied 16 in 2017; 'Old Town Road' passed it at week 17 and finished at 19 consecutive weeks in August 2019; Shaboozey's 'A Bar Song (Tipsy)' tied 19 in 2024.

Carey then went past the 19-week mark shared by 'Old Town Road' and 'A Bar Song (Tipsy)' with 'All I Want for Christmas Is You', which reached weeks 20, 21 and 22 on the charts dated Dec. 20 and 27, 2025, and Jan. 3, 2026. Those 22 weeks were cumulative, gathered across every holiday season since 2019. 'Choosin' Texas' hit 23 on the Sept. 26, 2026 chart and 24 on Oct. 3, and now stands at 25. Its weeks are also non-consecutive, but spread across a single chart year rather than seven holiday seasons.

The consecutive-versus-cumulative distinction matters when comparing these songs. 'Old Town Road' holds the longest unbroken run at 19. 'Choosin' Texas' managed 14 straight. Billboard's own 20th-week story called the Langley single the sole longest-leading non-holiday hit in Hot 100 history. In September, Billboard staff analysis by Katie Atkinson attributed longer reigns in general to streaming, which tracks a song's life for longer.

Song	Weeks at No. 1	When	Consecutive?	Record status
'One Sweet Day', Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men	16	1996		Record at the time
'Despacito', Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber	16 (tie)	2017		Tied the 16-week record
'Old Town Road', Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus	19	Aug. 2019	Consecutive	Record at the time
'A Bar Song (Tipsy)', Shaboozey	19 (tie)	2024		Tied the 19-week record
'All I Want for Christmas Is You', Mariah Carey	22	Jan. 3, 2026	Cumulative across 2019-2026 holiday seasons	Record at the time
'Choosin' Texas', Ella Langley	25	Oct. 31, 2026	Non-consecutive, seven stays in 2026	Current record

Most weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Source: Billboard's record-setters list.

What else does the song lead, and where did 'Patient Zero' go?

The record is not confined to the Hot 100. On the Oct. 31 chart the song leads Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart for a 46th week, passing Shaboozey's 'A Bar Song (Tipsy)' for the second-longest run in that chart's history. Its 26 weeks at No. 1 on Streaming Songs tie Carey's record on that list, and its 19 weeks atop Digital Song Sales are a record of their own, Billboard said.

Back in March it also spent a third week at No. 1 on Country Airplay with 33.8 million in audience, tying the longest run by a solo woman on that chart since 2010, Billboard said.

Variety noted the Oct. 31 chart also brought top-10 debuts for Tate McRae's 'Housewife', the Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan duet 'Expectations', and Zach Bryan with Lana Del Rey on 'Lies'.

A note on the credits. 'Choosin' Texas' was co-written by Langley with Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick and JoyBeth Taylor, and comes from the album 'Dandelion'. When the song broke Carey's record in September, Langley told Fox News, 'It's changing my life. It's changing the lives of the writers of this song.'

What to watch next, and what is not confirmed

Hot 100 charts post on Tuesdays and are dated the following Saturday. The Oct. 31 chart reflects Oct. 16-22 activity. The next chart, dated Nov. 7, posts on Tuesday Nov. 3 and will show whether a 26th week follows or a new entry takes over.

Two gaps remain: Billboard publishes no fixed component weights, and the Oct. 31 story gives no Oct. 16-22 components for 'Patient Zero'.

The Hollywood Reporter cited a 6x platinum RIAA certification in September; we have not seen a more recent figure. The total number of weeks the song has spent at No. 1 on Country Airplay beyond the three confirmed as of the March 21 chart was not verified.

Nov. 3 (Tuesday): Hot 100 dated Nov. 7 posts, showing whether a 26th week follows
Not confirmed: how much the 1:2.5 paid-stream ratio affects Hot 100 results
Not confirmed: current RIAA certification
Not given in Billboard's Oct. 31 story: 'Patient Zero' component figures for Oct. 16-22

FAQ

How many weeks has 'Choosin' Texas' been No. 1 on the Hot 100?

Twenty-five, as of the chart dated Oct. 31, 2026, according to Billboard. The weeks are non-consecutive and span seven separate stays at No. 1 between Feb. 14 and Oct. 31, 2026.

Whose record did Ella Langley break?

Mariah Carey's. 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' reached 22 weeks at No. 1 on the chart dated Jan. 3, 2026, accumulated across holiday seasons since 2019. 'Choosin' Texas' passed that with a 23rd week on the chart dated Sept. 26, 2026.

Why is 'Choosin' Texas' No. 1 if it is not the most-streamed song?

Because the Hot 100 combines streaming, radio airplay and sales. In the Oct. 16-22 week the song had 58.6 million radio audience impressions, by far its strongest component, which outweighed its No. 4 streaming rank and No. 5 sales rank, per Billboard.

What is the longest consecutive run at No. 1 on the Hot 100?

Nineteen weeks, by 'Old Town Road' in 2019, per Billboard's record-setters list. 'Choosin' Texas' longest unbroken stretch was 14 charts, from July 4 to Oct. 3, 2026.

Which songs interrupted the 'Choosin' Texas' run?

Billboard lists nine. Six came from different artists: Bad Bunny's 'DtMF', Bruno Mars' 'I Just Might', BTS' 'Swim', Olivia Rodrigo's 'Drop Dead', Drake's 'Janice STFU' and Ariana Grande's 'Hate That I Made You Love Me'. Taylor Swift accounts for the other three: 'Opalite', 'I Knew It, I Knew You' and 'Patient Zero'.

Sources

Figures change. Check the primary sources above.