‘Texas’ Two-Step: Ella Langley & Lainey Wilson Lead Country Song Charts

Few times since Billboard’s Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts began coexisting have women ruled both lists in the same week. Just as Ella Langley scores her first Hot Country Songs No. 1, fellow country star Lainey Wilson captures her fifth leader on Country Airplay.

Langley, who has logged five top 10s on Hot Country Songs, all since October 2024, earns her first No. 1 with “Choosin’ Texas.” Co-written with Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick and Joybeth Taylor, the track jumps 4-1 on the chart dated Dec. 6 with 13.7 million official U.S. streams, 11.5 million in radio audience and 8,000 sold in the Nov. 21-27 tracking week, according to Luminate. The song, quickly becoming a career marker, reaches the top in just its sixth week.

Wilson, meanwhile, banks her fifth No. 1 on Country Airplay as the likewise Lone Star State-themed “Somewhere Over Laredo” also surges 4-1, with 28 million in audience (up 22%). Wilson co-wrote the track, which interpolates 1939’s The Wizard of Oz classic “Over the Rainbow.”

Only six times since the two charts began running side by side in October 2012 have solo women commanded both rankings at once. It first happened that same month, when Carrie Underwood’s “Blown Away” topped Country Airplay for two weeks while Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” led Hot Country Songs.

Such a double-up didn’t happen again until September 2016, when Kelsea Ballerini’s “Peter Pan” ruled both charts for a week. Gabby Barrett’s “I Hope” and Maren Morris’ “The Bones” paired up for a week in April 2020, followed by Lambert’s “Bluebird” and Barrett’s continued run with “I Hope” for a week that August. Barrett returned for the most recent occurrence until this week, as “The Good Ones” led both charts for two weeks beginning in late April 2021. Barrett and Ballerini are the only females to have led both charts simultaneously.

Billboard launched the all-encompassing Hot Country Songs chart in October 1958 and it became solely based on Luminate’s electronically monitored airplay data in January 1990. In October 2012, the chart adopted its current multimetric formula, while Country Airplay preserved a dedicated read on country radio. Because the charts now track different types of total consumption, they rarely align — which makes this week’s dual female leadership a genuinely uncommon moment.