Nothing short of a phenomenon.
Since late 2023, there was an almost tangible feeling that Ella Langley was primed to be country music’s next female superstar. With early success on tracks like “Could’ve Been Her,” “paint the town blue” and her Koe Wetzel collaboration, “That’s Why We Fight,” all signs pointed to Langley blowing up into the stratosphere.
Then 2024 rolled around and she shattered all expectations with the monster success of her Riley Green collaboration, the viral “you look like you love me.” It’s hard to truly state just how popular the track was among both fans and critics at the time. Though it’s began to fall into “overplayed” territory as we sit in 2026, there’s simply no denying how much of a force to be reckoned with both the song and Langley have become. As for “you look like you love me” itself, the track has been nothing short of an award show darling, snagging a staggering 7 wins across categories at the CMA and ACM Awards in both 2024 and 2025. This isn’t even mentioning it scoring a #1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, a 3x platinum certification from the Recording Industry of America (RIAA) and nearly 300 million streams on Spotify alone as of January 21, 2026.
Upon the release and eventual success of “you look like you love me,” it seemed nearly impossible for Langley to top it. Of course, this isn’t a knock on the Alabama native, it simply felt like the perfect storm of quality, virality and drama following the countless rumors surrounding her and Riley Green at the time of its release.
Just when you thought that “you look like you love me” would remain as Langley’s signature hit over the next few years, “Choosin’ Texas” was released. And it’s been nothing short of a juggernaut for the Alabama native. And deservedly so. The track, which was now famously co-written with Miranda Lambert (along with Joybeth Taylor and Luke Dick), was released back on October 7th, and quickly became one of the most buzzy songs of the year for a couple of different reasons.
For starters, the “Choosin’ Texas” once again fanned the flames of the seemingly never-ending online drama surrounding Langley and Green’s relationship, with a countless number of fans online speculating whether the song was written about Green himself. This, of course, was mainly due to the single’s artwork depicting a couple, a man wearing a cowboy hat and a blonde woman, in a red convertible, which made fans once again stir up rumors surrounding the alleged “love triangle” between Langley, Green and Megan Moroney.
More importantly, however, it’s simply a great song. Drawing on some ’70s inspired sounds, in the intro particular, the track is nothing short of infectious. “Choosin’ Texas,” plainly, is a song that encapsulates everything great about the genre. From the steel-soaked production and Langley’s twangy vocals to the specificity in the writing and the general theme of heartbreak, it’s a country song that’s firing on all cylinders.
Since its release, the song has been nothing short of a smash for Langley. Debuting at #37 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, it also launched all the way to #7 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, both of which were career-highs for the “hungover” singer.
In the weeks following, it caught even more fire. On December 2nd, it became Langley’s first career #1 hit on the aforementioned Hot Country Songs chart and also became the fastest solo female song to reach the top 10 at US Country Radio this decade, taking just eight weeks to crack the Top 10.
In case that wasn’t enough, on January 5th, “Choosin’ Texas” reached #5 on the all-genre Hot 100, skyrocketing all the way up from #48 last week. With this entry, “Choosin’ Texas” has become Langley’s first-career Top 5 entry on the chart as well as her first Top 10 entry. In case you were wondering just how rare of a feat this was, the Alabama native became just the 12th woman THIS CENTURY to chart a country song inside the Top 10 on the Hot 100.
This week, despite Zach Bryan charting 18 songs on the Hot 100, Bruno Mars rocketing to #1 with his first solo song in years with “I Just Might” and tracks like “Man I Need” and “The Fate of Ophelia” still being successful, “Choosin’ Texas” is still holding strong and only dropping one spot down to #6.
Even more interestingly, “Choosin’ Texas” received a whole lot of love, not on country radio, but Adult Contemporary (AC) radio this week. In case you’re not familiar with this “genre” of radio, it’s a bit of a catch-all that (obviously) focuses on adults, typically women, ages 25-45. Though Adult Contemporary does not have one genre it caters to, typically, it focuses on pop, R&B and soft rock. To get a taste of the current state of its rotation, this is the current Top 5:
- “Ordinary” – Alex Warren
- “Golden” – HUNTR/X
- “The Fate of Ophelia” – Taylor Swift
- “The Man I Need” – Olivia Dean
- “back to friends” – sombr
Back to “Choosin’ Texas,” it tied for the most adds across US Hot AC Radio this week with 20 separate entries across stations in the country. Though 20 isn’t an incredible number itself, it becomes pretty noteworthy when you take in consideration its surrounded by the likes of Hillary Duff’s “Roommates,” Bruno Mars’ aforementioned “I Just Might,” MAX and Andy Grammer’s
“The Thing I Love” and RAYE’s “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!”
Though only time will tell how Langley and “Choosin’ Texas” does on non-country formats such as Adult Contemporary, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the song is becoming nothing short of a phenomenon. While you have Morgan Wallen experiencing record-breaking success thanks to his pop and trap-fueled country songs and Zach Bryan continue to top charts with his folk and singer/songwriter tracks in the genre, it becomes noteworthy when a song as unabashedly country as “Choosin’ Texas” is not only dominate the country charts and all-genre charts such as the Hot 100 but also force itself into conventionally country-hesitant formats such as Adult Contemporary.
It’s safe to say Ella Langley is a country superstar, and by the looks of it, she’s well on her way to becoming a bona fide star in music as a whole.
Fire it “Chosin’ Texas” before you go.
