Choosin’ Texas has set a new mark on the Billboard Hot 100, spending 23 weeks at No 1 and becoming the longest-running chart-topper in the listing’s 68-year history.
The track, released last October as the lead single from Ella Langley’s album Dandelion, edged past Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You, which led the chart for 22 weeks.
Choosin’ Texas extends its record run on the Billboard Hot 100
Choosin’ Texas entered the Billboard Hot 100 last November. Co-written by Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick and Joybeth Taylor, the heartbreak anthem’s rise has been “surreal,” Langley said in an interview earlier this year.
Langley credited fans for the song’s endurance, saying the response to this release showed how listeners can reshape a career.
The narrative centers on a Tennessee-based storyteller watching a partner leave for another woman in Texas, reframing a familiar breakup as a tug not only between people but between places.
In its opening lines, the singer recounts taking him back to Abilene and losing him again, concluding she “wasn’t a match for that kind of spark.” The chorus underscores the pull of the Lone Star State as he is seen two-stepping across the room, with a smile that signals there is nothing she can do.
The song threads regional touchstones through its lyrics, invoking “Smoky Mountain rain,” “Memphis blues,” and a nod to Tennessee’s Jack Daniel’s whiskey.
Discussing how the idea took shape, Langley said she was on a writing retreat with Lambert, their first session together, when a story about Lambert’s Texas plates during an encounter with a pet kangaroo sparked the opening line. About 45 minutes later, the writers had finished the song.
Victoria Banks, a Nashville-based songwriting instructor at Belmont University, attributed the hit’s staying power to its straightforward craft and familiarity. She noted that the writers’ long experience in the Nashville market honed instincts for what is catchy and draws listeners in, even if the song came together quickly.
Banks’ perspective echoes how other artists have explored roots and tradition, including musicians who, like Langley, draw on regional stories to shape their work, as seen when Rhiannon Giddens channels heritage through music.