THIS WEEK, it's all about the Hot 100. Of course, if you take a look at the Billboard chart this week, you'll know that it's the same songs as last week. That's nothing new these days, and I have blogged time and time again until I've turned blue in the face about this. You know the reasons.
Perhaps it's that stagnation that, this week, resulted in the first-ever non-seasonal song to top the Hot 100 for 20 weeks. Without any notable competition, Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas" holds at #1 for a 20th week. It becomes the first song in regular release to hit twenty weeks in one chart run.
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| Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas" logs a 20th week at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song holds steady at #7 on Scenes 'n' Soundwaves |
It's hard to believe, but the song has accomplished this in SIX different runs at the top position, going back to February 14. It held for just one week before giving way to Bad Bunny's "DTMF", and then Taylor Swift's "Opalite". March 7, it retook the top spot, again for just a week. This time it was Bruno Mars' "I Just Might" landing at the top, but just for one week. "Choosin' Texas" advanced to the top a third time on March 21, this time for two weeks. K-Poppers BTS then assumed the top position with "Swim" for a week before Ella came back for a fourth run, this time for three weeks. Next, it was Olivia Rodrigo's turn for a disruption with "Drop Dead", before "Choosin' Texas" came back for a fifth time on May 9 for three more weeks. That made it ten weeks total, and it looked like that would be all for the song. Drake's "Janice STFU" (2 weeks), Ariana Grande's "Hate That I Made You Love Me" (one week) and finally Taylor Swift again, this time with "I Knew It, I Knew You' for two weeks, before Ella returned again on July 4. This one has proven the longest, with ten weeks and counting. It survived attempts from Morgan Wallen's "Been By Now", and the aforementioned Ariana Grande song when her album dropped.
So, can anything stop it, short of a major artist dropping a new song or album? At #2 this week is Stella Lefty's "Boston", maintaining last week's position but still bulleted, so maybe that has a chance. After that, nothing as even the top 15 are the same songs as last week, with an internal jostling or two in position.
That puts "Choosin' Texas" two weeks behind the all-time leader, Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You", which has racked up 22 weeks over the last six holiday seasons. So, can the song overtake Mariah's perennial hit? With two months to go before the annual "thawing" of Ms. Carey, there is a chance before no doubt "All I Want" will tack on more weeks.
And with Labor Day this weekend winding up the summer, I think it will be a foregone conclusion what Billboard's "Song of the Summer" will be. Heck, it's probably the #1 song of 2026 and give the award to Ella now.
THE DOLLY INVASION: The other big news on the big chart is, of course Dolly Parton, who sadly passed away last week. I had predicted that several of her well-known songs would invade the Hot 100, although I wasn't sure how high they would debut as the passing of the American country music icon occurred in the middle of the reporting week. But five of her well-known classic songs entered (old songs must land in the top fifty to make the Hot 100). Leading the pack is "Jolene" (#16), which had an eight-week run back in 1974, peaking at #60, thus the new high-point totally obliterated that. Just behind, at #18 is her "9 to 5", the title track from her first movie, which originally hit #1 in 1981. Her other Hot 100 leader, "Islands in the Stream", a duet with Kenny Rogers from 1983 re-enters at #26. Just behind that is her original version of "I Will Always Love You", making its first appearance ever on the Billboard chart. While that song hit #1 on the country chart two different times (1974, and a re-recording in 1982 when it appeared on the soundtrack to her movie The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas), and of course Whitney Houston's then record-breaking (14 weeks at #1) version from The Bodyguard, this is the first time Dolly's 1974 version has made the Hot 100 (the '82 re-recording hit #53). Finally, her other big top five hit from 1978, the #3-peaking "Here You Come Again" comes again at #44.
I'm sure that next week, which still includes a full week's activity after her passing, these songs will maintain positions, but I wondered if she had a contiguous full week of sales right after her death, that she could have hit the top 10, or even knocked Ella out of number one. But the songs, nonetheless, just indicate how much this gifted singer from Tennessee was loved. Television and social media have been bombarding us with many of her interviews from the past, and I still feel a bit of sadness when I hear her talk and sing. Dolly's impact will be felt for years to come; when Michael Jackson's biopic Michael came out a few months ago, many of his songs returned to the chart, and if and when there's a definitive one for Dolly, no doubt these songs will chart again and be remembered.
And finally, two of Dolly's songs actually enter the SNS 100: "Jolene" enters at #87, while "I Will Always Love You" comes in at #99. I selected these two songs as I had rarely, if ever, heard them when they originally came out and were the most referred to recordings in various reels on social media.
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| Kelly Clarkson bids farewell as her daily talk show ended a seven-year run on August 31. This week also marked the 24th anniversary of her winning the first season of American Idol. Her current single "I'd Be Lyin'" reenters the SNS 100 at #98. |
ANOTHER FAREWELL: She is still alive and well, but there was another bittersweet feeling when I caught the series finale of The Kelly Clarkson Show. My wife and I love Kelly (her American Idol coronation song "A Moment Like This" was our wedding first dance) and have watched all of her seven seasons. She had a myriad of guests from the well-known celebrities to those who have donated their time to advance various causes. And related to this blog, I have discovered many of the emerging artists who had performed on the show over the years and have added them to the SNS 100. Her final show, broadcast on August 31 featured her taking a few requests from the notable guests in the studio audience who had been on the show previously, and answering a few questions about them. She closed the show with her new single "I'd Be Lyin'" which reenters my chart at #98.
Kelly will again be a coach on the upcoming Season 30 of The Voice, so we will at least be able to catch her there. And I also have to point out that this week, 24 years ago, she became the first winner of American Idol, and arguably the most successful of all the winners.
SNS 100: Turning to my chart, once again it looks like the Hot 100 as all ten songs are there from last week, and that means for the second week, all of them feature women, either as featured vocalist, part of a duet, solo, or group. The Womack Sisters' "If I Let You" stays at the top for a third week, once again just barely beating out Deb Browning and Townsend Link's "The Sea Sand and You" which remains at #2. We do have movement, however as Sienna Spiro's "Material Lover" (4-3) and Brooke Combe's "Love Was Made of Stone" (9-4) make major advances. The former has an outside shot at hitting the top next week, while Ms. Combe might be a couple weeks away. Marsha Morgan's "Whenever There's Summer" rounds out the top 5. "Choosin' Texas" still holds at #7 in week 32 on the chart.
There are three new entries in the top 20, with Stella Lefty's "Boston", #2 on the Hot 100 now moving up here (24-17) to get the Impact award. Beach music duo Andy and Oneida grab their first SNS top 20 with "Young Again" (25-19), and Loaded Honey's "Tokyo Rain" moves 30-20.
And speaking of Loaded Honey, their parent band, Jungle takes the Mover honors with "Sunshine" (60-45). Other prime movers include Alabama Shakes' "I Feel Hope Coming" (38-24), Sam Fender and Olivia Dean's "Rein Me In" (37-26), Starbuck's "Bongo Bay" (42-27), and last week's Top Debut, The Mac Daddy's Band's "Shirley, You're Kidding" (52-38).
NEW STUFF: Aside from the two Dolly Parton songs and the re-entry from Kelly Clarkson, the debuts are led by yet another song from The Womack Sisters' debut album. This one is called "Monster" and enters at #61. This trio of sisters continue to amaze me. This one is a nice, slow, smooth ballad, that, if any of these beach music DJ's have any sense, they would play this one. I guess this kind of music would qualify as "old-school" beach music. Even though it's new, the sound just takes me back. With four songs on the chart this week, I can only hope they catch on.
Next is The Jay Vons' with "Want You Tomorrow". No, this band, which had four straight number ones followed by a #2 from their The Word set, isn't a new song. I vowed I was going to let go of this almost seven-year-old album, and then this song popped up. Sorry, but I can't let it go. This band is a mix of old-school beach music, 60's garage band, retro soul and vintage pop (think The Grass Roots or The Buckinghams). Debuting at #70, it's another winner. I wish I would know if this band was still around and if they'll ever put out another album.
The Colliflowers are a quartet from Australia and are one of those bands that keep popping on my reels. This song caught my eye (and ears). "Arizona", debuting at #89, is a great, catchy pop/rock effort with a nice guitar solo in the middle. A very palatable song here and should do well on my chart.
Orbis Max is back with "Cure For Hope", another song release ahead of what I assume will be their forthcoming album. While the themes for the songs released this year to date have been rocking and uptempo, they slow it down here for a power ballad. The Internet band always excels with songs like this, thus should be another top 20 hit to follow-up the recent "Falling Through the Cracks". It enters at #93.
TREMORS: New songs bubbling under this week include the second Rolling Stones single from Foreign Tongues. This is sort of a mid-tempo song along the lines of, say, "Beast of Burden". The seemingly ageless band is in fine form, nothing to loud (or soft, for that matter), with Mick Jagger's vocal sounding like it did more than half a century ago.......Leon Bridges, who, at least on my chart, started the retro-soul movement over ten years ago, enters with "Light the Way". Actually, he's done many different styles, and this one is a cool, uptempo afro-centric, rhythmic romp that cooks and doesn't let up.....finally, there's Beck with his latest, "Disappearing Act", keeping with the rather somber tone of his recent releases off of his Ride Lonesome set. Sort of a slow, "psychedelic folk" mode that could garner some noise.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100 Playlist
August 30, 2026
|
This Week |
Last Week |
ARTIST-Title |
Weeks on List |
|
1 |
1 |
NUMBER ONE:  Album: The Womack Sisters (3 Weeks at #1) |
8 |
|
2 |
2 |
17 |
|
|
3 |
4 |
6 |
|
|
4 |
9 |
5 |
|
|
5 |
3 |
9 |
|
|
6 |
5 |
15 |
|
|
7 |
7 |
32 |
|
|
8 |
10 |
12 |
|
|
9 |
8 |
13 |
|
|
10 |
6 |
26 |
|
|
11 |
15 |
7 |
|
|
12 |
17 |
5 |
|
|
13 |
12 |
10 |
|
|
14 |
13 |
8 |
|
|
15 |
20 |
7 |
|
|
16 |
19 |
9 |
|
|
17 |
24 |
TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:  "Boston" Album: Is This Heaven? |
11 |
|
18 |
11 |
14 |
|
|
19 |
25 |
7 |
|
|
20 |
30 |
5 |
|
|
21 |
26 |
5 |
|
|
22 |
16 |
14 |
|
|
23 |
23 |
14 |
|
|
24 |
38 |
3 |
|
|
25 |
27 |
10 |
|
|
26 |
37 |
4 |
|
|
27 |
42 |
4 |
|
|
28 |
28 |
8 |
|
|
29 |
31 |
8 |
|
|
30 |
14 |
14 |
|
|
31 |
29 |
21 |
|
|
32 |
36 |
7 |
|
|
33 |
21 |
18 |
|
|
34 |
18 |
14 |
|
|
35 |
22 |
11 |
|
|
36 |
40 |
8 |
|
|
37 |
39 |
6 |
|
|
38 |
52 |
2 |
|
|
39 |
46 |
7 |
|
|
40 |
32 |
20 |
|
|
41 |
47 |
6 |
|
|
42 |
45 |
9 |
|
|
43 |
51 |
4 |
|
|
44 |
48 |
17 |
|
|
45 |
60 |
MOVER OF THE WEEK:  "Sunshine" Album: Sunshine |
2 |
|
46 |
33 |
10 |
|
|
47 |
41 |
11 |
|
|
48 |
56 |
4 |
|
|
49 |
34 |
14 |
|
|
50 |
58 |
4 |
|
|
51 |
55 |
6 |
|
|
52 |
35 |
11 |
|
|
53 |
54 |
8 |
|
|
54 |
43 |
10 |
|
|
55 |
62 |
6 |
|
|
56 |
66 |
3 |
|
|
57 |
49 |
11 |
|
|
58 |
44 |
13 |
|
|
59 |
65 |
6 |
|
|
60 |
72 |
3 |
|
|
61 |
--- |
TOP DEBUT:  "Monster" Album: The Womack Sisters |
1 |
|
62 |
50 |
17 |
|
|
63 |
71 |
5 |
|
|
64 |
88 |
2 |
|
|
65 |
91 |
2 |
|
|
66 |
74 |
4 |
|
|
67 |
67 |
5 |
|
|
68 |
81 |
Sylvia Johns
Ritchie and Doyle Wood - I've Got the Just Can't Help Its |
17 |
|
69 |
80 |
3 |
|
|
70 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
71 |
53 |
8 |
|
|
72 |
57 |
10 |
|
|
73 |
73 |
5 |
|
|
74 |
87 |
2 |
|
|
75 |
59 |
7 |
|
|
76 |
86 |
3 |
|
|
77 |
89 |
3 |
|
|
78 |
69 |
15 |
|
|
79 |
82 |
3 |
|
|
80 |
77 |
7 |
|
|
81 |
64 |
12 |
|
|
82 |
61 |
13 |
|
|
83 |
93 |
46 |
|
|
84 |
102 |
1 |
|
|
85 |
78 |
5 |
|
|
86 |
96 |
2 |
|
|
87 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
88 |
95 |
4 |
|
|
89 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
90 |
70 |
13 |
|
|
91 |
97 |
2 |
|
|
92 |
99 |
2 |
|
|
93 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
94 |
63 |
16 |
|
|
95 |
100 |
2 |
|
|
96 |
68 |
9 |
|
|
97 |
84 |
15 |
|
|
98 |
REENTRY |
2 |
|
|
99 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
100 |
94 |
28 |
Tremors:
101. The Rolling Stones - Jealous Lover
102. The Revivalist - Heart Stop
103. Leon Bridges - Light the Way
104. Brandon Flowers - Plans
105. The Jayhawks - Keeping Our Heads Above Water
106. Michael Hyatt - Shagging in Carolina
107. Beck - Disappearing Act
Tremors: Songs which have steady or increasing points but not enough to chart on the SNS 100.
Murmurs:
Thee Sacred Souls - Waiting for the Right Time/One and the Same
Murmurs: Songs which are in the queue for future adds onto the Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100 Playlist.
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Songs with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week
●Songs garnering 25 plays on Spotify (“Scrobbles”) according to Last.Fm (effective October 2024) ▲ Songs garnering 50 plays.
Songs on the SNS 100 are included on the following public Spotify playlists
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves Top 40: Contains songs in positions 1-40 on the SNS 100
Scenes 41-100 and Newbies Songs in Positions 41-100 on the SNS 100 plus new additions
Scenes Recurrents: Songs which had been in the top 20 and/or songs on the chart 25 weeks or more, that have dropped off the SNS 100.
(Rob Sheldon is a music fan who has followed music trends the past 60 years, and covers new and classic music, specializing in pop, rock, alternative, beach, soul and country genres). He can be contacted at rsheldonx4804@gmail.com
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