Women’s Country Chart Sweep Is Unlike Any Before, Thanks to Ella Langley, Taylor Swift & Stella Lefty

Skip to main content Langley holds three of Hot Country Songs' top five as women extend a record run — though Country Airplay tells a different story. 7/29/2026 Ella Langley at SXSW Conference on March 14, 2026, in Austin, Texas. Adam Kissick/SXSW Conference & Festivals Women continue an unprecedented run on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, occupying all of the ranking’s top five positions for a record seventh consecutive week on the Aug. 1-dated list. The streak is already longer than all previous such runs since 1980 combined. Ella Langley accounts for three of the five titles, led by “Choosin’ Texas” at No. 1, along with her Morgan Wallen collaboration “I Can’t Love You Anymore” at No. 4 and “Be Her” at No. 5. Taylor Swift’s “I Knew It, I Knew You” holds at No. 2, while Stella Lefty’s “Boston” ranks at No. 3. “Choosin’ Texas,” now in its 33rd week at the summit, totaled 25.3 million official U.S. streams, 51.8 million in radio audience and 7,000 sold July 17-23, according to Luminate. It concurrently leads the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 for a 15th week. The sweep also extends beyond the country chart: Four of the Hot Country Songs top five are the four most streamed songs in the U.S. across all genres. “There’s so many talented women coming up right now,” Langley told Billboard earlier this year, ahead of her receiving the Women in Music Powerhouse award at Billboard’s Women in Music 2026 celebration in April. She added — with an outlook proven prophetic more quickly than many might have imagined — “I’m so excited for what music’s going to look like in the next two to three years. Women are about to take over, I’m telling you that right now. It’s cool to be, hopefully, someone that someone else looks up to in that way.” Below is a look at the chart history currently being made and factors that have led to unprecedented success for women in the genre. A Sweep Years in the Making Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for for TAS Rights Management Women have swept the Hot Country Songs top five before, but never for this long. Since 1980, they have occupied all five positions in just four other stretches: two weeks in April 1980 and single weeks in 1986, 1998 and 2024. Those previous runs totaled just five weeks combined.Crystal Gayle, represented in both 1980 and 1986, is the only artist to figure into two separate such runs. The makeup of the sweeps has also changed. In 1998, five different women or acts featuring women — The Chicks, Martina McBride, Trisha Yearwood, Jo Dee Messina and Faith Hill (with Tim McGraw) — comprised the top five. In 2024, Beyoncé was credited on four of the five titles. The current run falls between those examples, with Langley accounting for three positions while Swift and Lefty supply the other two. The commands also occurred under two distinct Hot Country Songs methodologies. The 1980, 1986 and 1998 runs came when the chart was driven by country radio, while the ones in 2024 and now reflect its current multimetric methodology, adopted in 2012. From Scarcity to a Surge The speed of the reversal is as striking as the feat itself. From July 6 through Dec. 7, 2024, Hot Country Songs went 23 consecutive weeks without a woman anywhere in the top five. Less than two years later, women have claimed all five positions for seven straight weeks.Across all chart weeks since 1980, women — credited solo or as part of a mixed-gender act — have averaged roughly one of the five available positions. Nearly a quarter of those weeks, 24%, featured no woman in the top five.The gains have been even more pronounced at No. 1. Women have held the Hot Country Songs summit in 26% of all chart weeks since 1980. In the 2020s, that share has risen to 40%, the highest of any decade in the period analyzed. A Different Story at Country Radio Image Credit: Jamie Schramm/Billboard Country Airplay offers another view of women’s representation. The chart measures audience impressions solely at reporting country stations, while Hot Country Songs combines streaming, sales and all-format radio airplay. The two, therefore, capture different listening environments. Country radio generally develops songs through a gradual, sequential singles cycle. On-demand streaming allows listeners to generate significant consumption for several songs by the same artist at once, helping make a three-title showing such as Langley’s possible. The contrast is clear during the current run. In the same seven weeks that women have occupied every position in the Hot Country Songs top five, they have held no more than two of the top five spots on Country Airplay in any one week. The difference also extends beyond the present stretch. This decade, 42% of Country Airplay chart weeks have featured no woman in the top five, while women have held the chart’s No. 1 position in just 15.2% of weeks. Multiweek No. 1s by solo women have likewise remained rare. Before Langley, only three solo women had achieved one in the past decade: Maren Morris, with “The Bones” in 2020; Gabby Barrett, with “The Good Ones” in 2021; and Lainey Wilson, with “Watermelon Moonshine” in 2023. With “Choosin’ Texas” (three weeks atop Country Airplay in February-March) and “Be Her” (four, June), Langley is the fourth, and the first of the four to do so twice. Meanwhile, “I Can’t Love You Anymore,” “I Knew It, I Knew You” and “Boston” are all currently in the Country Airplay top 10, at Nos. 2, 8 and 9, respectively. How Country Is Being Consumed Now The split comes as the broader country marketplace has become increasingly centered on on-demand listening. Audio streaming accounted for 90.8% of U.S. country album-equivalent consumption in 2025, according to Luminate’s 2025 Year-End Music Report. The two charts are consequently reflecting different aspects of women’s momentum. Hot Country Songs shows their strength across streaming, sales and radio combined, while Country Airplay reflects a station-programmed, singles-focused approach that has largely not shifted at the same pace. Still, signs point to a convergence. This year, Langley, Luke Combs and Wallen have combined for 16 weeks with multiple concurrent hits each in the Country Airplay top five, a marker that country programmers are more open to playing more than one big hit by the same artist at once. Since 2023, 45 such weeks have occurred. Before that (dating to the chart’s 1990 start), only 10 did, in 2002-14. Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up