Ella Langley takes the number one spot on the chart for the second time in a row Billboard Country Airplay held the top spot for the second week in a row on the June 13 chart. According to Luminate, the song garnered 31.9 million streams (up 71 TP3 T) between May 22 and 28.
"Be Her" follows "Choosin' Texas," the only other Langley hit to top the charts for consecutive weeks (three weeks in February and March), and returns one spot to No. 5 (24.1 million).
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Langley's success extends beyond these two songs. Her collaboration with Morgan Wallen, "I Can't Love You Anymore," climbed three spots to No. 10 on the Country Airplay chart (18.1 million streams, up 121 TP3T), making her the first woman to have three songs in the top 10 simultaneously. Only Wallen, who held the top spot for a week in 2023, had previously accomplished this feat. The track became Langley's sixth top 10 hit and Wallen's 24th.
Three of Langley's songs are topping the Country Airplay chart, and radio stations are finding room for them. Randy Alomar, program director at Adams Radio WBTU in Fort Wayne, Indiana, isn't worried about "Choosin' Texas" becoming the hit of the year, and it's still getting played because it's a monster—and on pop stations, too," he says. Billboard , noting that the song climbed to number 6 on the Adult Pop Airplay chart and number 15 on the Pop Airplay chart.
He adds: "'Be Her' is an amazing sequel.".
Radio One Houston's Director of Operations, Travis Moon, who oversees daily programming for country radio station KKBQ, shares this sentiment. "I haven't seen such a high level of love for a female artist since Shania Twain, when I was at KEEY in Minneapolis, so this is a generational moment," he adds. "She's been a true gift to our format, and I think it's going to be life-changing for all of us. She's incredibly popular.".
Songs like "Be Her" and "Choosin' Texas" continue to be played frequently on KKBQ. "Given the research and the fact that four of the five most popular country songs in Houston are hers, my core audience expects me to listen to her music often," Moon continues. "It's a real Ella celebration in Houston!"«
The demand is clear, despite the challenges of the release schedule. "Timing the release of these songs is a challenge, and I'm glad I don't have to deal with it," says Alomar. "Country radio needs Ella and other female superstars like her.".
Female solo artists have rarely held the top spot on the country chart for long. In the chart's 36-year history, 58 songs by solo female artists have topped it for multiple weeks, accounting for approximately 131,000,000 of all songs that have held the top spot for multiple weeks. These periods have typically been fluctuating, from the success of Twain, Faith Hill, and Jo Dee Messina in the late 1990s to the dominance of Carrie Underwood in the 2000s and a smaller number of recent breakthrough female artists.
All charts from June 13 will be updated on Tuesday, June 9, on Billboard.com.
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