Ella Langley’s Team-Ups Reflect a Bigger Country Chart Trend

She has the highest ranking collaboration on Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay as such pairings become increasingly common. Morgan Wallen, Ella Langley Spidey Smith; Caylee Robillard Trending on Billboard Collaborations, meaning songs on which more than one artist is billed, account for 18% of the positions on Billboard’s Sept. 5-dated Hot Country Songs chart and 20% of those on Country Airplay. For comparison among other genres, that’s more than double the share on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (8%) and not far behind Hot Latin Songs (26%) and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (30%). The pairings have become a defining feature of country’s current chart moment, and no artist embodies that trend this week more than Ella Langley. Explore See latest videos, charts and news Langley has the highest ranking collaboration on both current charts. “I Can’t Love You Anymore,” with Morgan Wallen, ranks at No. 5 on Hot Country Songs and No. 3 on Country Airplay, where it recently spent two weeks at No. 1. Meanwhile, “Jaded,” with Koe Wetzel, places at No. 8 on Hot Country Songs, giving Langley the top two collaborative titles on that chart, where it debuted at No. 25 the week before. All told, Langley has logged nine collaborations on Hot Country Songs, five of them top 10 hits, with partners ranging from Riley Green and Miranda Lambert to BigXthaPlug, Luke Bryan and HARDY. On Country Airplay, she has charted six team-ups, three of which have reached No. 1: “You Look Like You Love Me” and “Don’t Mind If I Do,” both with Green, and “I Can’t Love You Anymore,” with Wallen. And she’s not alone. On Hot Country Songs, collaborations accounted for a record 28% (dating to 2012) of all debuts in 2024, up from just under 8% a decade earlier. There may not be a single reason for the increase, but the rise has come alongside growth in on-demand streaming, where listeners — and artists themselves — aren’t tied to radio formats and can easily consume across genres. Collaborations can put a song in front of more than one artist’s audience, of course, expanding potential reach for artists and labels alike, particularly when those artists come from different musical worlds. Luminate has documented the overlap in country, finding that the share of listeners consuming both country and hip-hop grew through 2023 and into 2024, while listeners of both genres also showed heavy consumption of R&B and pop. Collaborations have become more common on both of Billboard’s major country songs charts, but they remain more prevalent on Hot Country Songs than on Country Airplay. Teamed titles have made up 15.5% of all Hot Country Songs debuts since the chart began combining streaming, radio and sales in October 2012, compared with 11.2% on Country Airplay over the same span. Broaden the lens to Country Airplay’s entire history, dating to 1990, and the share falls to 6%. Team-ups accounted for just 1% of its entries in 1992, not clearing 10% until 2016. Radio, of course, is built around formats. Hot Country Songs, by incorporating streaming and sales along with airplay, can more readily reflect listening outside those lines. That’s especially the case with cross-genre pairings. Artists including Diplo, Kehlani and Marshmello have appeared on Hot Country Songs alongside country acts. Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter sent six collaborations onto the chart in a single week in April 2024, while Post Malone’s F-1 Trillion powered 12 partnered debuts four months later. Country Airplay has been more selective with partnerships, though Post Malone is a notable exception. His country album was built around a deep roster of the genre’s marquee artists. Still, collaborative titles that do reach country radio tend to fare well. Roughly 41% of those that have charted on Country Airplay since October 2012 have climbed into the top 10, compared with roughly 28% on Hot Country Songs. That arguably reflects the higher bar a collaboration must clear to reach country radio in the first place. Hot Country Songs can capture album tracks, streaming-driven hits and cross-genre pairings without significant country radio support. A collaboration that reaches Country Airplay has generally been promoted to the format and found enough support among programmers to chart. Langley has the highest ranking co-billed hit on both charts this week, but her run is part of a much larger shift. Collaborations have become increasingly common as country’s audience has broadened and on-demand listening has made genre lines less rigid. Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up