It’s through the Song of the Year nominees that we try to determine the landmark track of a given year that can change a life, or change the world. These are the poetic movements and poignant moments that give you goosebumps and wet the eye. With the Single of the Year nominees, the requisites are much less lofty. We’re simply looking for the toe tappers and boot scooters—the songs that unlock the joy in music.
That doesn’t mean that a Single of the Year cannot be meaningful or momentous though. The 2025 Single of the Year is a perfect example of this. It’s as an enjoyable and infectious of a track as any released in 2025, even if not especially groundbreaking or poignant. It’s not from some critically-acclaimed independent country music darling like the kinds that tend to curry favor from an outlet like Saving Country Music.
In fact, the Single of the Year actually comes from a mainstream star, and it’s a mainstream song that’s charting at the top of big charts. It might seem like an unlikely, dark horse pick to some. But it’s also incredibly deserved because of the advantageous impact the song is having on country music.
Before we get to the winner though, let’s first show some love to the runner up, Joe Stamm Band’s “Territory Town.” The opening song from their 2025 album Little Crosses could be taken straight from the John Cougar Mellencamp catalog, or Springsteen’s mid-career output. And though the folks in the mainstream would never consider it such, for the Joe Stamm faithful, “Territory Town” was their Song of the Summer.
And let’s recognize that whether it’s Single, Song, or Album of the Year, it seems like Joe Stamm is always in top contention, and he’s always coming up just a place or two short of the top spot. But don’t take this as a sign that Stamm is being sold short. Constantly being in these conversations speaks to the incredible impact of Joe Stamm’s albums and songs, especially as a truly independent underdog whose music can compete and best even the biggest names in both the independent and mainstream worlds of country.
But in 2025, it’s Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” that is accomplishing things we never thought would be possible for a traditional country track, especially one sung solo by a woman. A late bloomer that wasn’t released until October 17th, the song has since set records, screamed up the charts, topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs survey, and very well could be the moment country music launches its next superstar.
Ever since 2015, actual, traditional country music has been on a hot streak in the country genre, including in the mainstream. In 2025 though, that hot streak plateaued, if not started to regress. Zach Top was helping to lead the charge, but his 2025 album Ain’t In It For My Health didn’t perform like his debut Cold Beer & Country Music did. Though other country traditionalists released excellent albums as well, they didn’t really affect the mainstream like we hoped.
Then here comes “Choosin’ Texas,” co-written by Langley with Miranda Lambert, along with Joybeth Taylor and Luke Dick. It’s not really indicative of the hot ’90s country sound that’s all the rage in country at the moment. It’s more of a late ’70s, early ’80s sound, similar to certain tracks from Midland. But it really is the story, and the reference to two-step dancing that seals the deal in the hearts of country listeners from young to old, and from both the traditional and contemporary country mindsets.
Sales/streaming/radio numbers would not conventionally be something that would influence any end-of-year decision around here. But it happens to be that the numbers for “Choosin’ Texas” are what make it such an incredible story. The song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in early December. Not even Ella Langley’s mammoth duet with Riley Green “You Look Like You Love Me” achieved that, stalling at #7 on the chart.
Then two weeks later, “Choosin’ Texas” reached the Top 10 on the MediaBase Country Radio chart, taking only eight weeks to achieve this feat. That makes the song the quickest radio single from a woman in country music to reach the Top 10 in a decade. That record was previously held by Lainey Wilson’s “Watermelon Moonshine,” which took 12 weeks to get to the Top 10. “Choosin’ Texas” currently sits at #7 on radio, and will be at #1 in a matter of weeks.
As big as “Choosin’ Texas” has been in 2025, it could get even bigger heading into 2026, and could help carry the momentum for traditional country, Ella Langley, and women in country music into the new year.
The industry and media can try and push certain performers and songs they believe should be successful all they want. But addressing or vanquishing some of the problems people love to complain about in country music ultimately takes songs that just can’t be denied, grow organically and exponentially on their own, and find the universal appeal that builds consensus among all country fans, irrespective of their tastes.
This is what Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” did in 2025 better than any other single, and perhaps better than any other traditional country single from a woman in the last decade. For that and the simple appeal of the song, “Choosin’ Texas” earns the distinction as Saving Country Music’s Single of the Year.
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