Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” is back at No. 1 on the Hot 100, extending its already unprecedented total to 25 nonconsecutive weeks in the chart’s top position. The country hit returns after Taylor Swift’s “Patient Zero” spent three weeks at the summit, and it does so during a particularly crowded week for high-profile new releases.
The upper reaches of the chart have been substantially rearranged. Tate McRae’s “Housewife” opens at No. 2, while Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan’s remix of “Expectations” reaches No. 3. Zach Bryan and Lana Del Rey’s “Lies” begins at No. 4. Swift’s “Patient Zero,” meanwhile, moves to No. 5.
It is an unusually clear snapshot of several different routes to a major chart week: a long-running hit supported by both streaming and radio, a huge new streaming debut, a collaboration that brings together two established fanbases, and a physical-sales-driven release settling after a major opening push.
“Choosin’ Texas” adds another week to a historic total
Langley’s return to the top gives “Choosin’ Texas” 25 weeks at No. 1 across 53 weeks on the chart. The total is nonconsecutive, meaning the song’s reign has occurred in separate stretches rather than one uninterrupted run. That distinction matters: a song can leave the top spot, face fresh competition, and still accumulate an extraordinary number of weeks there if listening and radio support remain durable.
The track recorded 20 million on-demand streams and 58.6 million radio impressions for the week. On-demand streams refer to plays selected by listeners through streaming services, while radio impressions are an estimate of the audience reached by radio airplay. They measure different kinds of engagement. Streaming reflects repeated listener choice in digital services; radio impressions indicate how widely a song is being exposed through broadcast programming.
That combination helps explain why “Choosin’ Texas” could regain No. 1 even as newer releases posted larger streaming totals. McRae’s “Housewife,” for example, had more streams in its opening frame, but Langley’s song retained an enormous radio footprint. On a chart built from multiple forms of music consumption, a record’s position is not determined by one statistic alone.
The 25-week total has already surpassed the previous record held by Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which reached 23 weeks at No. 1 in late September. The calendar gives that comparison an added wrinkle. Carey’s seasonal standard regularly becomes a formidable chart contender in the weeks immediately before Christmas. Langley’s additional weeks on top create more room in the event that the holiday favorite mounts another run later in the year.
Tate McRae’s “Housewife” arrives with the week’s biggest debut
McRae’s “Housewife” makes the strongest entrance among the week’s new arrivals, opening at No. 2 with 22.9 million streams and 12.7 million radio impressions. Its streaming count exceeds that of “Choosin’ Texas,” while its immediate radio showing suggests that the song did not rely exclusively on a first-week digital surge.
A debut near the top of the Hot 100 is different from a song gradually climbing there. A new release has the advantage of concentrated attention from fans during its first tracking week, but it has not yet had time to establish the long-term radio presence evident in a track such as “Choosin’ Texas.” “Housewife” has nevertheless started from a strong position, with a significant number of streams and an early level of airplay that puts it in direct competition with the songs already entrenched in the top 10.
The chart result also demonstrates why streaming totals deserve context rather than being treated as a complete leaderboard on their own. “Housewife” reached 22.9 million streams, 2.9 million more than Langley’s No. 1 single. But “Choosin’ Texas” paired its streaming with 58.6 million radio impressions, more than four times “Housewife’s” 12.7 million. The week’s rankings reflect that broader picture.
Rodrigo and Roan turn “Expectations” into a top-three collaboration
Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan’s version of “Expectations” reaches No. 3 after drawing 18.2 million streams and 2.6 million airplay impressions. In ordinary release language, it is a major new remix and duet. In chart accounting, however, it is not treated as an entirely separate song from Rodrigo’s original solo version.
That is because all versions of “Expectations” are counted together for the chart. The solo recording was No. 63 the previous week; the new collaboration’s consumption is grouped under the same song entry. It is a useful technical distinction for anyone watching music-chart movement. A remix can dramatically alter a song’s momentum without creating an additional, separate chart slot for the same composition.
The collaboration’s debut-week streaming figure places it behind “Housewife” and Bryan and Del Rey’s “Lies,” but the No. 3 position shows just how consequential the remix has been. It also aided Rodrigo’s album performance: “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love” returned to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
That album-chart effect is an important practical takeaway from a high-profile collaboration. A new version of one song can increase attention not only around the track but around the artist’s wider catalog and current project. In this instance, the remix gave Rodrigo two notable top-10 entries at once, since “Stupid Song” remains on the Hot 100 at No. 10.
The crossover appeal of prominent pop collaborations has become part of the broader conversation around music’s cultural moment. For another example of how artists and music-world visibility intersect with pop culture, see this look at Sexyy Red’s appearance at Drake’s 40th birthday celebration.
Zach Bryan and Lana Del Rey land at No. 4
Zach Bryan’s “Lies,” featuring Lana Del Rey, opens at No. 4. The duet generated 19.6 million streams, putting it ahead of “Expectations” in streaming volume, though it began with comparatively limited radio airplay. The record appears on Bryan’s eight-song EP, Young Manhood and Other Donatable Organs, which enters at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
“Lies” is another example of the difference between immediate streaming demand and the full set of signals that influence a Hot 100 position. Its 19.6 million streams are substantial and establish the song as one of the week’s biggest releases. Still, a smaller initial radio footprint leaves less support in a component where Langley’s No. 1 song is particularly powerful.
The tandem of a No. 4 song debut and a No. 2 EP debut also shows how releases can move across charts without producing identical results. The Hot 100 is focused on individual songs; the Billboard 200 tracks albums and EPs. A project can fuel multiple tracks and build a large total at the album level, while a particular song competes on its own against singles with very different patterns of radio, sales and streaming activity.
Swift falls to No. 5 as physical sales cool
“Patient Zero” drops from No. 1 to No. 5 after its three-week run at the top. Its radio airplay remains strong, but physical sales declined sharply, from 151,000 the prior week to 26,000 in the latest frame. No new variants or shipments of different versions of the song arrived during the week.
Physical sales are purchases of tangible music products, rather than streams or downloads. The source figures illustrate how a large initial physical-sales push can affect a song’s chart standing and how quickly that advantage can change once fresh versions or shipments are no longer part of the release cycle. Even after the decline, “Patient Zero” was still the week’s top-selling song.
The move to No. 5 should not be read as a disappearance of interest. It instead reflects a changed balance among chart inputs at a moment when three songs entered immediately above it and a long-running No. 1 reclaimed its position. Strong radio support and the week’s leading sales total remain meaningful indicators of continued reach.
Three new arrivals shift the rest of the top 10
The impact of the three top-four newcomers is visible throughout the remaining positions. Stella Lefty’s “Boston” falls three places to No. 6. Morgan Wallen’s “Been by Now” moves down three to No. 7, followed by Tame Impala and Jennie’s “Dracula” at No. 8 and Adela’s “Nicole Kidman” at No. 9, each also down three spots.
Those declines do not necessarily mean that each song suffered an equivalent loss in audience. Chart placement is relative: when multiple new songs enter above a title, an existing hit can slide even if its own weekly performance remains resilient. This is especially true in a top 10 where the new entries arrive at No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 rather than slowly working their way upward.
Rodrigo’s “Stupid Song” dips by only two positions, landing at No. 10 and giving her two songs in the week’s top 10. Alongside the No. 3 showing for “Expectations,” it caps a week in which a remix provided a major new point of attention without displacing her other charting single from the upper tier.
For Langley, the headline remains simple even amid all of that movement: “Choosin’ Texas” has added another No. 1 week to a record already beyond the previous benchmark. For McRae, Rodrigo, Roan, Bryan and Del Rey, the more immediate story is the scale of their openings—and the competitive chart landscape that those releases have abruptly created.
