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Ella Langley knew “Choosin’ Texas” was special. Even she couldn’t have predicted just how far it would go.
On Tuesday night, Langley took to Instagram to celebrate making Billboard Hot 100 history this week when “Choosin’ Texas” logged its 23rd week at No. 1, surpassing Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” for the longest reign at the top of the chart.
“I’m genuinely trying to find the words to explain what’s going on in my brain today,” Langley began her video. “What? I don’t know. Thank you so much. Thank you for loving this song, for listening to it. I feel like… I just don’t even know what to say at this point. I’m running out of hyperboles to describe how I feel, so I will just let my dog in the background show you his excitement,” she continued as her dog barked.
Ella Langley topped the Billboard Hot100 charts for the 14th week in a row with her “Choosin’ Texas” anthem. (John Schearer)
“Just thank you. Thank you so much. It’s changing my life. It’s changing the lives of the writers of this song. It’s changing the lives of my family and it is truly growing an atmosphere for something I’m gonna be able to do the rest of my life and I just… today doesn’t feel like a real thing,” Langley said. “It feels fake and somebody’s going to come in and be like ‘haha we’re kidding the whole time just kidding.'”
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“I’m really excited to just experience a moment like this in my life,” she said.
The country music star told her fans that she was going to celebrate tonight before ending with, “Choosin’ T… that’s the one huh?”
In a resurfaced interview with Billboard from March, when the song was still climbing, Langley admitted its success had already surpassed anything she imagined when she wrote it.
“When we wrote it, I knew it was going on the record. I honestly knew it was going to be the lead single,” Langley told Billboard.
“And we love that song, but I don’t think I could have ever imagined what’s happening with it right now,” she continued. “Like I said, every day I wake up and it’s doing something that I didn’t even know was a goal that I could have had.”
“It’s just nuts,” Langley added. “It’s crazy to see the ownership that the fans have taken over it. And the different demographics of people listening to the song is so cool.”
What seemed unimaginable to Langley in March has since become historic.
ELLA LANGLEY’S ‘CHOOSIN’ TEXAS’ SPENDS 15 WEEKS AT NUMBER ONE ON THE BILLBOARD HOT 100
“Choosin’ Texas” first entered the Hot 100 in November 2025, became Langley’s first top 10 in January and reached No. 1 for the first time in February.
The song has also spent 41 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
Long before it became a record breaker, however, “Choosin’ Texas” began with a story about a kangaroo.
Langley recalled writing the song during her first songwriting retreat with country superstar Miranda Lambert and two other writers.
“So, I was on a writer’s retreat with Miranda,” Langley explained in the resurfaced Billboard interview. “This is our first time that we had written together and obviously we were there with two others.”
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Ella Langley performs onstage during the 59th Annual Country Music Association Awards at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., on Nov. 19, 2025. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
Billboard credits Langley, Lambert, Luke Dick and Joybeth Taylor as the four co-writers of “Choosin’ Texas.”
Langley said Lambert began telling her a story about a pet kangaroo.
“I learned at a young age she had a pet kangaroo and I wanted to ask her about it,” Langley recalled. “So, I was like, ‘Tell me about this kangaroo that you had. I need to know.'”
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Lambert told the group about once being pulled over with the kangaroo riding in the passenger seat and a dog in the back.
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“She said she got pulled over and the kangaroo ended up getting her out of a ticket, but she’s like, ‘Of course, I had Texas plates on, too,'” Langley recalled.
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Ella Langley performs onstage at the Billboard Women in Music 2026 held at the Hollywood Palladium on April 29, 2026, in Los Angeles, Calif. (Rich Polk/Billboard via Getty Images)
That was enough to spark the song.
“And I went, ‘Well, she’s from Texas, I can tell,'” Langley said. “And just from that phrase, it kind of all hit us.”
According to Langley, the melody came almost immediately, with Lambert helping develop the story behind it.
“And 45 minutes later, we had that song written,” Langley said. “And it was just, it was such a cool experience.”
Lambert’s involvement didn’t end in the writing room.
Langley told Billboard that the country superstar was executive producing her next record and had become someone she could turn to for advice.
“There’s not a rulebook to this job,” Langley said. “So to be able to have someone like her to ask questions and think, you know, is it, should I be doing this? She’s like, ‘Hell yeah, you should be doing this.'”
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Miranda Lambert and Ella Langley pose in the winner’s walk during the 61st Academy of Country Music Awards. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for ACM)
Even Lambert was surprised by what was happening with “Choosin’ Texas.”
“My team’s calling me every day freaking out about this song,” Langley recalled Lambert telling her.
At the time of the March interview, the song had reached No. 5 on the Hot 100.
“How crazy is that?” Langley said.
“And for me, like, what, me? You mean me?”
Six months later, “Choosin’ Texas” stands alone as the longest-running No. 1 song in Hot 100 history.
Langley’s historic week comes as she continues performing across the country.
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Ella Langley attends the 2026 ACM Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., on May 17, 2026. (Getty Images)
The singer recently shared photos from stops in Oxford, Mississippi; Athens, Georgia; and Jacksonville, Florida.
“Oxford, Athens & Jacksonville ❤️,” she captioned the Instagram post.
The images showed Langley performing with her guitar, posing near an Ole Miss sign in a dress and red boots, holding a snake and preparing backstage in front of a lighted mirror. Another captured an older couple dancing during her show.
Fans celebrated her record in the comments.
“Congrats @ellalangleymusic on passing Mariah!” one person wrote.
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