This week, Ella Langley‘s country-pop smash “Choosin' Texas†hits another historic chart benchmark, spending a 19th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (dated Aug. 29). That ties the song with Lil Nas X's Billy Ray Cyrus-featuring “Old Town Road†and Shaboozey's “A Bar Song (Tipsy)†for the second-longest reign in the chart's history — as well as the longest stay for a song during a single Hot 100 run.
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But for the overall all-time record for the most weeks spent atop the Hot 100, there's still one song to beat: “All I Want for Christmas Is You,†the 1994 Mariah Carey holiday perennial that first topped the chart in 2019, and has ruled for multiple weeks in every year since — not counting the rest of 2026, though it already did notch week on top this year in early January. That week was its 22nd at No. 1, putting it three frames ahead of any other No. 1 hit in Hot 100 history.
Perhaps not for long, however. With no major current-day stars releasing new music on Friday (Aug. 21) and nothing below “Choosin' Texas†on the Hot 100 particularly zooming up in performance this week, it seems a strong bet that “Texas†will become just the second song to ever spend 20 weeks at No. 1. And from there, it might not be long until it overtakes “Christmas†to become the lone record-holder for the longest-running chart-topper in Hot 100 history.
Consider that despite having spent 44 weeks on the Hot 100 already — close to half of them at No. 1 at this point — “Texas†not only still sits atop the chart, it does so with a 1.54-to-1 lead in Hot 100 points over the current No. 2 song, Stella Lefty's own country-pop crossover hit “Boston.†For some context of how sizable a lead that is, the points advantage that “Boston†currently has over the Hot 100's No. 3 song this week, Taylor Swift's “I Knew It, I Knew You†is just 1.09-to-1. (Those numbers reflect the blend of songs' streaming, radio airplay and sales data that determines Hot 100 ranks each week.)
What's more, Langley's lead is also “Texasâ€-sized when compared to the 19th week at No. 1 enjoyed by the song's two predecessors. When “Old Town Road†was in its 19th week at No. 1 back in 2019, it held just a 1.16-to-1 advantage over that week's No. 2 song (Billie Eilish's “Bad Guy,†which took over the following week). When “A Bar Song (Tipsy)†reigned for a 19th frame, its total was practically equal to that of the No. 2 finisher (Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars' “Die With a Smileâ€) — though both songs were passed the next week by Kendrick Lamar's then-debuting “Squabble Up.â€
Finally, perhaps the most-impressive thing about Langley's points lead is that it has essentially held steady for months. In the song's 15th week at No. 1 (on the chart dated Aug. 5), her lead was 1.56-to-1. In the song's 10th week at No. 1 (on the chart dated May 23), her lead over No. 2 was 1.55-to-1. Incredibly, that span of weeks also includes a five-week interruption where the song was deposed from No. 1 by a trio of generational superstars: Drake (“Janice STFU,†two weeks), Ariana Grande (“Hate That I Made You Love Me,†one week) and Taylor Swift (“I Knew It, I Knew You,†two weeks). But while those songs receded from clear-cut No. 1 contention shortly after their predictably resounding debuts, “Choosin' Texas†has remained consistently strong.
Looking to the future, it is hard to spot a new release — either out already or imminently due — that seems likely to be an aggressive challenger to “Texas†on the Hot 100 in the near future. New hits by Steve Lacy (“Oh Yeah?â€) and Tame Impala (“Loserâ€) have surged up the chart recently, spurred by their synch placements in the new blockbuster Spider-Man: Brand New Day. But as that movie's box office returns have naturally begun to slow (though are still dominant), so have the songs' chart ascents: “Loser†bounds 22-18 this week and “Oh Yeah?†climbs 18-17, but both will likely need additional boosts to get within range of “Texas.â€
Meanwhile, the upcoming release schedule for the next month contains big names like Rod Wave, JENNIE, Luke Bryan, Tinashe and Riley Green, but no one who has a history of topping the Hot 100 (outside of Carly Rae Jepsen, who did so back in 2012, but has not visited the top five again since). Surprise releases or one-off singles may materialize in the interim — and certainly if you're a fan of Drake or Taylor Swift, you may have your own theories as to what those reliable chart-toppers have in store for the upcoming months. But in terms of album releases currently on the calendar for the next month, it's hard to see one posing a real immediate threat to Langley's supremacy.
So might it be up to Stella Lefty and “Boston,†then? If you're a Lamb hoping that Carey is able to protect her all-time mark, that might be your best bet: Lefty's breakout hit has steadily climbed the Hot 100 for most of the past 20 weeks, finally landing in the runner-up spot for the first time this week. It also should receive a boost next week from the Aug. 21 release of her debut album Long Way Home, which features “Boston†on its tracklist, and should be due for a top 20 bow on the Billboard 200.
But will that be enough to get “Boston†over the top on the Hot 100? Probably not next week, anyway: Even with the bump from Long Way Home, the song continues to trail “Texas†on the daily U.S. streaming charts for both Spotify and Apple Music, as well as on the iTunes sales chart. On radio, “Boston†is catching up to “Texas,†but slowly; the former is up to 22.2 million in radio airplay audience over the first four days of this tracking week (Aug. 21-24) — a 12% gain, according to Luminate — but “Texas†is at 31.6 million over the same period, up 1% from the week before.
In other words, “Boston†will need to continue gaining significantly across formats — and likely hope that “Texas†finally starts to really recede, in a way it hasn't done since first taking over the chart back in February — to have much chance of challenging for No. 1. (Notably, “Texas†is still scaling Billboard's pop and adult airplay charts in the top 10, after topping Country Airplay in February-March. “Boston†is amid its climb at all those formats.)
So what will it take for another song to bust through “Texas†on the Hot 100? Truly, none of us could say yet — the consistency of its performance to this point likely means that if and when it does start to drop, it won't plummet, but rather fade slowly and undramatically. And in the meantime, even if a big name does come out with an unanticipated release, recent history suggests that any interruption of “Texas†might be just a brief one — if even that, as chart-dominating superstar Morgan Wallen proved unable to depose his “I Can't Love You Anymore†co-star with his new single, when his “Been by Now†debuted at No. 2 behind “Texas†earlier in August.
In fact, the next artist who we can say with relative certainty will pose a true challenge to “Choosin' Texas†at No. 1 is, indeed, Mariah Carey herself. Come the holiday season, Carey will emerge — as she has each of the last seven years — as the artist to beat on the Hot 100, with “Christmas†likely adding to its 22-week total once again. But the earliest in the chart year “Christmas†has ever returned to No. 1 is Dec. 13 (as she did in 2025), and there's 14 weeks' worth of Hot 100s to come between now and then.
How many of them will “Texas†own? We can't predict just yet — but it definitely seems in play that by the time “Christmas†takes over again, it could not only need extra weeks to reclaim its No. 1 endurance trophy, but more than one holiday season.
Additional reporting by Gary Trust.
