In our weekly feature “THE WEEKLY,” music critic Seo Seongdeok takes stock of the biggest developments in the music industry each week. Catch up on the latest stories in music, from major artist moves to notable new releases, “Billboard” chart highlights, and more.
ENHYPEN earns their first No. 1 on the “Billboard” 200
“THE SIN: BLISS” by ENHYPEN debuted at No. 1 on the “Billboard” 200 chart dated September 5. It’s their first chart-topper to date. ENHYPEN has now landed their name on the chart 10 times, starting with “BORDER: CARNIVAL” at No. 18 in 2021. Seven of their albums in a row have hit the Top 10 since “MANIFESTO: DAY 1” in 2022, and the three before “THE SIN: BLISS” were within striking distance of the top, at Nos. 2, 3, and 2, respectively. “THE SIN: BLISS” opened with 98,000 units in its first week. 92,000 of those came from album sales, putting it at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart as well. “Bloody Paradise” debuted at No. 32 on the Global 200, marking ENHYPEN’s first Top 40 entry there. ENHYPEN returned to the Artist 100 chart at No. 4.
The K-pop camp took the top of the “Billboard” 200 for a third straight week, following Stray Kids’ “THIS & THAT” on the August 22 chart and KATSEYE’s “WILD” for August 29. Earlier this year, “ARIRANG” by BTS became the first K-pop album to spend three consecutive weeks at No. 1. This latest run marks the first time three different K-pop acts have dominated the chart across three continuous weeks.
The two previous chart-topping K-pop albums are still holding strong in the Top 10. “WILD” sits at No. 6, and “THIS & THAT” at No. 8. This is only the second time there’s been three K-pop albums in the Top 10 simultaneously, following when ATEEZ’s “GOLDEN HOUR: Part.2” (No. 1), Jin’s “Happy” (No. 4), and ENHYPEN’s “ROMANCE: UNTOLD” (No. 7) charted in November 2024. Notably, ENHYPEN was there both times. In 2024, all three albums had either debuted or returned to the chart that same week, whereas this time, they’re all No. 1 albums holding on in the Top 10.
“THE SIN: BLISS,” “THIS & THAT,” and “WILD” also swept the Top 3 of the Top Album Sales chart. On the same chart, “GOLDEN HOUR: Part.2,” “Happy,” and “ROMANCE: UNTOLD” were Nos. 1, 3, and 4. Back in 2024, No. 2 went to Linkin Park’s comeback album “From Zero,” but this time K-pop claimed that spot too. A comparable situation happened in August that year, when Stray Kids’ “ATE” and Jimin’s “MUSE” took No. 1 and No. 2 on both the “Billboard” 200 and the Top Album Sales chart.
Ella Langley rewrites Hot 100 chart history
Ella Langley’s single “Choosin’ Texas” logged its 20th week at No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart dated September 5. The song hasn’t left the Top 5 since it first hit No. 1 on the Valentine’s Day chart. It’s now surpassed the 19-week record held by Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” making it the longest-running No. 1 in chart history aside from Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which holds the true record at 22 weeks.
Granted, “All I Want” could still add to its total by year’s end, but it’s already remarkable for a non-holiday song to hold the top spot past the 20-week mark, and there’s a strong chance of “Choosin’ Texas” breaking the 22-week record before the year is out.
There’s no sign yet of it loosening its grip on the chart, and no serious rival in sight.
“Texas” pulled in 24.2 million streams for the week, putting it at 20 weeks atop the Streaming Songs chart as well, one of only three songs to do so, following “All I Want for Christmas Is You” (26 weeks) and “Old Town Road” (20 weeks). Langley’s song is also holding strong elsewhere, landing at No. 5 on Radio Songs and No. 7 on Digital Song Sales. Stella Lefty’s “Boston,” now firmly at No. 2, keeps climbing, but the gap between it and No. 1 remains wide.
Confidence in the staying power of Langley’s hit is reflected in the prediction markets too. On Kalshi, the average forecast for how many weeks the song would spend at No. 1 sat at 27 before the September 5 chart was published. Right after the latest chart came out, that number climbed to 29. Rather than losing steam after hitting such an impressive milestone, expectations only grew, effectively reflecting a bet that the song stays popular clear through the holiday season. “Choosin’ Texas” debuted at No. 39 on the Hot 100 dated November 1, 2025. It just might hit its next historic milestone right around the anniversary of that date.
Dolly Parton, the queen of country, has passed away
Dolly Parton passed away on August 25, in Nashville, Tennessee. She was born in 1946, the fourth of 12 children. Her first official recording came in 1959, at age 13, but her career is generally considered to have begun in earnest around 1967, when she moved to Nashville after high school to pursue a career in country music. She left behind 25 No. 1 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart and two on the Hot 100, with more than 100 million records sold. She won 11 Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, and was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Countless people decided to honor Parton by listening to her voice. On August 26, she was the most-streamed artist in the world, with 79.7 million global streams and 54.3 million in the US alone. Her weekly streams in the US for the week of August 21–27 hit 116.7 million, up 1,143% from the week prior (9.4 million). That surge naturally had an impact on the chart dated September 5. Five of her songs entered the Hot 100: “Jolene” (No. 16), “9 to 5” (No. 18), “Islands In the Stream” (No. 26), “I Will Always Love You” (No. 27), and “Here You Come Again” (No. 44). “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” both cracked the Top 40 for the first time, breaking their previous peaks of No. 60 and No. 53, respectively. The greatest hits album “Ultimate Dolly Parton” returned to the “Billboard” 200 at No. 5. That, too, far surpassed its original peak of No. 112 upon release. All of it came from just a little over two days of people tuning in following news of her death.
A streaming surge following a legendary artist’s death is nothing new, but breaking chart peaks from when they were alive is rare.
In Parton’s case, it’s likely because her catalog wasn’t something rediscovered after the fact—it had been in steady rotation across generations all along. She wrote roughly 3,000 songs over her lifetime, including both “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You,” both of which she crafted in one day in 1973. Some two decades later, Whitney Houston recorded her version of “I Will Always Love You,” which went on to become one of the biggest hits in history. “Jolene” was reimagined in 2024 on Beyoncé’s “COWBOY CARTER,” an album Parton herself contributed to. Even for younger listeners, Dolly Parton was very much a presence of the current day, and every generation mourned for her together by streaming her songs. The queen of country, even in passing, proved country music is entering a new golden age.