New Delhi, Sept. 24 -- The Instagram story was four words and two emojis: "23 weeks. Absolutely insane." Ella Langley posted it Tuesday morning before most of Nashville was checking its phone, attaching a graphic listing the names she had just surpassed: Harry Styles, Morgan Wallen, Mariah Carey, in the order she passed them on the way to somewhere nobody had ever been.

"Choosin' Texas" spent a 23rd week at No. 1 on the Hot 100 on Tuesday, September 22, becoming the longest-running No. 1 single in the chart's 68-year history. The record it unseated belonged to Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You," which had accumulated 22 nonconsecutive weeks atop the chart across multiple holiday seasons since 2019.

In a music year otherwis...