On the latest Billboard Hot 100 (dated Jan. 10), Ella Langley surges from No. 48 to No. 5 with “Choosin’ Texas.” The song, released in October, began gaining momentum late last year before being stalled by the annual flood of holiday titles that dominate the chart in December.
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Now that holiday music has retreated from the Hot 100 for the season, “Choosin’ Texas” accelerates into the top five, earning Langley her first career top 10 hit. In the process, she joins a notably small group of women to score a top 10 Hot 100 hit this century with a country song.
Just how rare is that feat?
Dating back to 2000, only 12 women or all-female groups have charted in the Hot 100’s top 10 with a country song, defined as songs eligible for Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. And across the past 26 years, just 24 country songs by women have reached the top tier of the Hot 100.
To add some context and perspective to that, 1,512 total songs have reached the top 10 of the chart this century, and of those, just 60 were country songs. That’s just 3.96%. And of that, 1.6% of all top 10s this century have been country songs by women.
Even with that limited pool, many of the entries come with qualifiers. A significant share of recent top 10s were recorded by artists primarily associated with pop music, who crossed into country for a specific release or unique sonic shift — Beyoncé (“Texas Hold ‘Em”), Chappell Roan (“The Giver”) and Tate McRae (featured on Morgan Wallen’s “What I Want”), to name a few.
Here’s the full list of country songs by women to reach the Hot 100’s top 10 since 2000, in chronological order:
Artist, Title, Hot 100 Peak Position, Hot 100 Peak Date
- Faith Hill, “Breathe,” No. 2, April 22, 2000
- Faith Hill, “The Way You Loved Me,” No. 7, Jan. 13, 2001
- The Chicks, “Long Time Gone,” No. 7, Aug. 31, 2002
- The Chicks, “Landslide,” No. 7, March 8, 2003
- Carrie Underwood, “Before He Cheats,” No. 8, June 2, 2007
- Taylor Swift, “Love Story,” No. 4, Jan. 17, 2009
- Carrie Underwood feat. Randy Travis, “I Told You So,” No. 9, April 4, 2009
- Taylor Swift, “You Belong With Me,” No. 2, Aug. 22, 2009
- Taylor Swift, “Mine,” No. 3, Aug. 21, 2010
- Taylor Swift, “Back to December,” No. 6, Oct. 30, 2010
- Taylor Swift, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” No. 1 (three weeks), Sept. 1, 2012
- Taylor Swift, “Begin Again,” No. 7, Oct. 13, 2012
- Taylor Swift, “Red,” No. 6, Oct. 20, 2012
- Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line, “Meant To Be,” March 31, 2018
- Gabby Barrett, “I Hope,” No. 3, Nov. 21, 2020
- Taylor Swift, “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version),” No. 1 (one week), Nov. 27, 2021
- Taylor Swift, “I Can See You (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault),” No. 5, July 22, 2023
- Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves, “I Remember Everything,” No. 1 (one week), Sept. 9, 2023
- Beyoncé, “Texas Hold ‘Em,” No. 1 (two weeks), March 2, 2024
- Beyoncé & Miley Cyrus, “Il Most Wanted,” No. 6, April 13, 2024
- Beyoncé, “Jolene,” No. 7, April 13, 2024
- Chappell Roan, “The Giver,” No. 5, March 29, 2025
- Morgan Wallen feat. Tate McRae, “What I Want,” No. 1 (one week), May 31, 2025
- Ella Langley, “Choosin’ Texas,” No. 5 (to date), Jan. 10, 2026
The list above is dominated by a handful of artists — namely Swift, with nine of the 24 songs — and includes several examples of pop superstars embracing traditional country sounds while maintaining massive crossover reach. If those crossover releases are removed, the field narrows considerably.
In that light, Langley’s recent ascent stands out, as “Choosin’ Texas” marks one of the few Hot 100 top 10s this century by a woman whose career has been rooted squarely in country, rather than propelled by an existing pop audience. As a result, her breakthrough underscores both the continued challenges women country artists face on the Hot 100, and how impressive it remains when one breaks through into the top region of the chart.
