The Week in Music: Ella Langley’s Long Reign, Ariana Grande’s Farewell, and a Deep Dive Into the Classics
The top of the American charts held remarkably still this week, even as one of pop’s biggest names signaled a goodbye. This is where the music stood for the week of August 9–15, 2026 — and what we added to the archive.
Hot 100: Ella Langley won’t let go
For a 17th week, Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” sat at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — now the longest-running chart-topper of 2026 and one of the most durable country crossovers in recent memory. Behind her the pop stars jostled: “Hate That I Made You Love Me” surged to No. 2, Morgan Wallen’s “Been By Now” slipped to three, and Ariana Grande arrived at four with “Petal.” Taylor Swift held at five. Langley’s song is doing something rare, ruling both the all-genre Hot 100 and the Hot Country Songs chart at once.
Albums: Ariana Grande’s last bow debuts on top
The week’s biggest headline came on the album side. Ariana Grande’s Petal entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1 — her eighth studio album and her seventh to reach the summit. It arrived under a bittersweet cloud: Grande has said she intends to step back from public life once her Eternal Sunshine world tour wraps, making Petal feel like a closing statement. Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem held at two, Olivia Rodrigo’s You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love at three, Langley’s Dandelion at four, and Noah Kahan’s The Great Divide at five. Over on adult alternative radio, The Revivalists held the top spot.
Out this week
New releases kept coming as the week closed: Nigerian star Ayra Starr delivered her third album, Starr Girl, a genre-crossing set of Afrobeats, R&B, and dancehall, while Trippie Redd dropped NDA and the rising group KATSEYE released their WILD EP. Closer to the music we love best, Heart’s Ann Wilson prepared to unveil Consecrated Ground with her band Tripsitter, and John Fogerty expanded his 1985 classic Centerfield with newly recorded live performances — a reminder that the catalog artists never really stop.
Meanwhile, in the archive
While the charts ran on a handful of contemporary names, Music Videos Club spent the week widening the deep catalog — more than a dozen new and rebuilt song stories spanning four decades. We ran soft-rock gold with Leo Sayer’s “More Than I Can Say” and Rod Stewart’s “My Heart Can’t Tell You No,” dug into the funk of Rose Royce’s “Car Wash” and the power-pop of Raspberries’ “Go All the Way,” and gave Joe Cocker a double turn with “You Can Leave Your Hat On” and “Don’t You Love Me Anymore.”
Tom Jones appeared twice — with his tender reading of “(It Looks Like) I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” and in a spirited live duet on “Sexbomb” alongside Helene Fischer. There was harder territory, too: Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back in Town” and a solo turn from Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi on “World Alone,” plus contemporary country-gospel from Anne Wilson’s “My Jesus.”
And there were two unforgettable voices no longer with us: Tina Turner, live in 1996 with “Whatever You Want,” and the rare sight of James Taylor and Carole King together on a 1971 BBC stage for “You’ve Got a Friend” — the song she wrote and he took to No. 1. It was a week for remembering that the story behind a song is often the best part.
All of it lives in the archive, with the full history behind every recording — the charts, the sessions, and the human details most sites skip.
