Choosing Between Ella, Bella, and Stella

The first “why isn’t CHR playing ‘Choosin’ Texas’” article was written by Liveline host Mason Kelter last January, when that song was about three months old, but already phenomenal. Programmer Phil Becker weighed in six weeks ago, asking how the Top 40 PDs who had rejected that song as “not their sound” could so enthusiastically get behind Freya Skye’s “Silent Treatment,” which went top 10 as a song that CHR could own, but with a fraction of the streams. 

At this writing, “Texas” has spent 10 weeks at No. 1 atop the Billboard Hot 100. It has returned to No. 1 on Spotify’s daily streaming chart after a week of Drake-mania. In New York, where it is not receiving significant airplay on any monitored station, the Drake juggernaut still rules the streaming charts, but “Texas” is No. 21 and has been as high as No. 5. (At Country, it has already been No. 1; it would be No. 9 this week but has already been moved to recurrent, a controversial decision for some in the industry.)

But when I reached out to readers and programmers for their Song of the Summer suggestions, several were already willing to anoint “Choosin’ Texas” the Record of the Year. I’m always on watch for when a hit can seriously compete for Song of the Summer without CHR support. “Hot to Go!” came close. “Golden” did become this column’s 2025 Song of the Summer before radio caught up. If the Song of the Year doesn’t need CHR, that’s an even bigger story.

In the course of discussing the Top 40 summer song field, one PD allowed that “Choosin’ Texas” would likely win on sheer numbers, but he didn’t regard it as a fit. (I’m not giving anybody away by saying that; more than half of the CHRs in top 20 markets aren’t playing it.) He also felt that way about “Boston” by Stella Lefty, another hit that began as a streaming story and is finding champions at Country (45-40 this week) but just a few at CHR (flat at No. 50 and, at this writing, down in spins.)

I connect “Boston” not so much with “Choosin’ Texas” as Bella Kay’s “ILoveItILoveItILoveIt,” currently 21-24, but still bulleted with +35 spins at this writing, at CHR. Both songs are in that category of streaming-driven acoustic chill that I take seriously particularly because of their streaming numbers and, in Kay’s case, because it generates CHR requests.

These songs don’t always sound like “radio records” to me, without seeing the story behind them. I found myself initially perplexed by both “Sailor Song” by Gigi Perez (which did generate requests) and “No One Noticed” by the Marias. For a while, streaming indie pop seemed to become hookier, hotter (“Undressed,” “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out”), but I’m not hearing that now.

I liked “Choosin’ Texas” right away. The Miranda Lambert connection helped. It also recalled the better of the Country-to-Top 40 crossovers of the late ’70s/early ’80s. My touchpoint for a while was “Nobody” by Sylvia, one of the last left-field hits to make it across in 1982 before CHR changed again. A Country PD friend compares her to Juice Newton, who bent the parameters of both formats around the same time.

By comparison, I refer to “ILoveIt … ” and “Boston” as the kind of songs that I don’t hear, but that I can read. In particular, I take “Boston” seriously because of the quality of its champions — KKBQ (93Q) Houston, KYGO Denver, Summit’s Country stations, WWWF (The Wolf) Long Island, N.Y. As we line up Country’s Song of Summer candidates, I’m also happy about how many of the first songs I instinctively grabbed for that playlist were from female artists.

Top 40 PDs have been worried about how much Country to allow since the summer of 2023, when “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen and “Fast Car” by Luke Combs — the latter more sober than summery — were hits. Wallen still has singles that stream like pop hits, but CHR doesn’t play them, and none has been worked since last summer’s pop-mostly “What I Want.” Even the CHRs that are usually friendly to Country crossovers were slow to power Ella, although some are coming around now.

Even in those Country-friendly markets, playing a Country crossover guarantees calls of the “I come here to get away from Country” sort. Personally, from the pop side I’m less scared of too many Country crossovers than I am of too many streaming-driven trifles of the sort that contribute neither tempo nor starpower. I’d also be inclined to choose among the many streaming stories and pick the one that comes with Country’s lateral support. In fact, as we’ve seen in recent summers, a mega-hit in today’s diffused landscape either needs “CHR + Country” (Shaboozey, “I Had Some Help”) or “radio + outside driver” (Huntr/x).

Besides, there are so few records of any legitimacy at play in Top 40 now that I’m happy to give both Bella and Stella six weeks, particularly if there’s any additional story. I’m less sympathetic when the streaming tapers off and songs kick around the top 15 for two extra months. Country doesn’t have a product shortage. After a few years of trial and error, the format has established that there is a place for both streaming stories and “radio records.”

In the early ’90s, the last time Country strength coincided with CHR desperation, Top 40 PDs decided not to legitimize Garth Brooks or any other Country act in any significant way. There is no derision intended in noting the parallels between “Choosin’ Texas” and “Achy Breaky Heart,” a song that large-market CHR acknowledged briefly and grudgingly. 

Not playing Garth Brooks or Trisha Yearwood or Brooks & Dunn at CHR didn’t do anything to boost the format or throttle Country. When Top 40’s comeback did begin a few years later, it was with acts like Hootie & the Blowfish and Sheryl Crow that had a similar appeal to Brooks. Two years ago, at the breakthrough moment of Teddy Swims, Benson Boone, and Noah Kahan, it looked as if that might be happening again. (And it’s a good reason to play Kahan now.)

“Choosin’ Texas” is a research hit in both formats. My only concern about hearing it at CHR is the same as any other eight-month-old song. I’d be happy if CHR PDs went after “Be Her,” a more subtle song, but one with an instant streaming story as well. If they could get past that, there are lots of other Country songs I like this summer. And if CHR wants to give Country’s slots to other pop hits instead, they’re going to have to make a concerted effort to find some.