Ella Langley Takes the Hot 100 Record While the Archive Stays in 1966–1975
The week of September 21–27, 2026 finished a chart story that had been building since February. Ella Langley‘s Choosin’ Texas logged a 23rd week at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100, more than any song in the chart’s history. Everything this site added in the same seven days was recorded between 1966 and 1975.
Last week the record was a tie, with Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You still level on 22 weeks. The Hot 100 dated September 26 settled it. We also left Macklemore off Ed Sheeran‘s tour, with the other support acts walking out after him; on September 25 he announced a headline tour of his own.
The charts
United States. Langley holds both ends of the Top 10. Choosin’ Texas passed Carey on the chart dated September 26, its 12th straight week on top, while Be Her sits at No.10 in its 31st week. The record was built slowly: the song entered the Hot 100 on November 1, 2025 and didn’t reach No.1 until February 14. Below it, Stella Lefty’s Boston held at No.2, Morgan Wallen climbed 4-3 and Ariana Grande 5-4, and Taylor Swift’s I Knew It, I Knew You slipped 3-6. Olivia Dean has two singles past the year mark, So Easy (To Fall in Love) at No.8 in week 51 and Man I Need at No.9 in week 56. On the Billboard 200 the story is endurance too. Jhené Aiko‘s Westside Whimsy leads, Langley’s Dandelion is No.2 in its 23rd week, and Noah Kahan’s Stick Season is at No.10 in its 199th week, one short of 200. Michael Jackson‘s Thriller is at No.15 in its 736th.
Europe. Britain keeps the song one place short of the top. On the Official Singles Chart published September 25, Sienna Spiro‘s Great Expectation held No.1 for a third straight week, with Choosin’ Texas at No.2 in its 38th week. The movement is all underneath: Adela’s Nicole Kidman jumped 15-4, with her Ain’t in LA rising to No.12, and Jamie Miller’s Babydoll leapt 24-8. Sam Fender and Olivia Dean’s Rein Me In is in its 67th week.
Global. The longest-reigning No.1 in American chart history is not the biggest song in the world. Karol G‘s BbY WOW, with Judeline and rusowsky, took a third week atop both Billboard global charts and climbed 10-7 on the Hot 100, a new peak. The two most dominant records of 2026 are a country single built on American radio and a Spanish-language song that barely needs it.
This week in music
U2 marked 50 years with a secret concert in Dublin, debuting their latest single *** Sammy Hagar wrapped his Van Halen-focused Best of All Worlds shows after more than two years *** Storms on the East Coast postponed AC/DC‘s New York show *** Oasis added four dates to their 2027 tour on September 23 *** Hilary Duff expanded The Lucky Me Tour by 32 dates the same day *** Luis Miguel teased a 2027 tour on September 24 *** iHeartRadio named its Jingle Ball 2026 lineup on September 25, led by Olivia Rodrigo and KATSEYE *** Shakira confirmed Alejandro Sanz, her partner on La Tortura, for the Friday show of her Madrid residency’s second weekend, and teased Maluma, eight days after they released Agua *** Ween announced Boognish Provides, a 14-CD box of seven unreleased shows from the Chocolate and Cheese tour *** Brother Cane announced winter 2026 dates *** Europe released Come This Madness on September 25 *** Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention’s Freak Out! returned in an expanded 60th-anniversary edition *** Joy Division’s Eternal arrived as a 14-CD live box *** King Crimson‘s Islands came back with new surround mixes *** T. Rex‘s 1974–1977 collected the late years on five CDs.
The people
Pete Byrne — died September 14, 2026, at 74.
His band announced his death this week. He and Rob Fisher had come out of a Bath band called Neon, whose other members went on to form Tears for Fears. As Naked Eyes, they took a Burt Bacharach song, Always Something There to Remind Me, to No.8 on the Hot 100 in 1983. Fisher died in 1999, and Byrne kept the songs on the road for another quarter-century.
Two more deaths came on September 20. Neil Henderson, born February 11, 1953, joined the Bay City Rollers in 1970 and played on Keep On Dancing, their first single and a No.9 in Britain in 1971. He left in 1972 over the band’s direction, two years before the run that made them famous, and went on to play guitar and write songs for Middle of the Road, who announced his death. Chad Gilbert, born March 9, 1981, left high school in 11th grade when New Found Glory signed their first deal, played guitar for the band the rest of his life, and produced records for A Day to Remember.
Leonard Cohen was born September 21, 1934, Ray Charles September 23, 1930, Linda McCartney September 24, 1941, and Meat Loaf September 27, 1947. Shel Silverstein, born September 25, 1930, wrote most of what made Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show famous, and Olivia Newton-John was born September 26, 1948. Among the living: Faith Hill turned 59 on September 21, Joan Jett 68 and Nick Cave 69 on September 22, Bruce Springsteen 77 and Julio Iglesias 83 on September 23, Bryan Ferry 81 on September 26, and Randy Bachman 83 and Avril Lavigne 42 on September 27.
New at Music Videos Club
Six stories this week, and two came out of the BBC’s vaults. Billy Joel – Piano Man was filmed for The Old Grey Whistle Test in May 1975, in front of a room that mostly didn’t know who he was, and the tape stayed in the archive for fifty years. Jethro Tull – Aqualung was never a single, and it began with a photograph Ian Anderson’s wife took of a homeless man in London.
Three are about songs their makers didn’t trust. Slade wrote Coz I Luv You in half an hour, took it to No.1, and spent years calling it wet. ABBA recorded So Long and SOS in the same two days of August 1974, and the one released first missed the charts in Britain and Australia. Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show – Life Ain’t Easy carries a songwriting credit that later compilations quietly dropped. Then there is Cher – Sunny, the sunniest record of 1966, written in the two days after the killings of a president and the songwriter’s brother. We also rebuilt Jennifer Rush – The Power of Love around its official video: Britain’s best-selling single of 1985, and a No.57 in her own country. That is the story behind the song, which is the only thing this site does.
