Country's Record Year On The Billboard Hot 100, Explained

By Ashish Shah Published Jul 14, 2026 · Updated 2 weeks ago

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Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” has spent 13 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the longest run of any song in 2026 so far.
On the July 13, 2026 Billboard Hot 100, Langley has three Top 10 hits: Choosin’ Texas (No. 1), Be Her (No. 3), and I Can’t Love You Anymore with Morgan Wallen (No. 6).
The analysis is based on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, which combines streaming, sales, and radio airplay. Global charts such as Spotify Global or Billboard Global 200 may show different trends.
The year’s defining story is Ella Langley’s record-setting Billboard run, alongside notable chart achievements from BTS and JENNIE that highlight the continued global reach of K-pop.

Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” extended its run atop the Billboard Hot 100 to 13 weeks on the chart dated July 13, 2026, according to Billboard’s Gary Trust, making it the longest-running No. 1 single of the year so far. On that week’s chart, Langley held three songs in the Top 10 simultaneously: “Choosin’ Texas” at No. 1, “Be Her” at No. 3, and “I Can’t Love You Anymore,” a duet with Morgan Wallen, at No. 6.

During its run, the song has shared the chart with several major pop releases, including Taylor Swift’s “I Knew It, I Knew You,” from the Toy Story 5 soundtrack, which held No. 1 earlier in the year and sat at No. 2 on that week’s chart, and Drake’s “Janice STFU,” which debuted at No. 1 in May and held No. 4. Billboard’s chart records show that non-consecutive No. 1 runs, where a song falls out of the top spot and later returns, are tracked separately from uninterrupted streaks, which is why Langley’s 13 weeks are counted across several non-consecutive stretches rather than one continuous run.

During 2026, BTS and BLACKPINK member JENNIE each recorded separate Billboard Hot 100 milestones. BTS’s “Swim” debuted at No. 1 on March 30, 2026. JENNIE’s collaboration with Tame Impala, “Dracula,” held No. 8 on that week’s chart, its 40th week on the Hot 100, indicating sustained chart presence rather than a single spike.

Framing this as country and K-pop locked in a single ongoing battle overstates what the data shows. The more accurate read is that 2026 has been a genuinely strong year for country music on the all-genre Hot 100 specifically, driven largely by one artist’s historic run, while K-pop recorded two separately timed chart achievements within the same calendar year: a full group debut at No. 1 and a member’s solo genre-crossover collaboration holding a Top 10 position for an extended stretch.

Both of these are Hot 100 results specifically, a chart that blends sales, radio airplay, and streaming as tracked by Luminate. Global streaming charts like Spotify’s Global Top 50, or genre-specific charts like Billboard’s Korea Global K-Songs, weren’t part of this analysis, and any claim about “global chart dominance” beyond the U.S. Hot 100 would require pulling those figures separately rather than assuming they follow the same pattern.

What’s confirmed: Langley’s 13 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 is the longest run of 2026 so far, and BTS and JENNIE each hold verifiable, dated chart achievements from separate points in the year. What isn’t supported is any claim of a real-time “battle” between the two genres, a “millions of fans” streaming surge, or a broader “structural shift” in how music charts function. Those would need their own separate sourcing to state as fact.