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Ella Langley has officially ended her 2026 Dandelion Tour, a run that has seen the ‘Choosin’ Texas’ hitmaker ascend from country up-and-comer to one of the biggest names in the genre.
She's headlined iconic venues such as the Greek Theatre and Red Rocks, as well as opening up for Morgan Wallen to perform to some of the largest stadiums in North America.
During a recent social media live-stream, Langley confirmed she intends to return to the road in 2027, and now that the Alabama native's Dandelion run has come to a close, fans are casting their gaze ahead to what might lie on the horizon for next year.
And let's be honest, it's been a pretty perfect year for Langley. She's scored the longest-running No. 1 of all time on the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Choosin’ Texas’, she's widely expected to be the favourite for the Grammy Best New Artist award next year, and she's cemented her position as one of country music's top stars.
Morgan Wallen now has a serious challenger to his throne, making 2027 a hugely exciting moment for country music, as Langley looks to continue her trajectory from 2026.
But at the same time, although Langley's position in country's upper echelon is undisputed, this feels like a pivotal - and potentially risky - period for the ‘Be Her’ singer-songwriter.
Although Langley has the biggest song in North America, and is building out her catalogue with follow-up hits like ‘Be Her’, ‘Loving Life Again’ and ‘I Can't Love You Anymore’ with Wallen, it still feels too soon to make the leap from arenas to stadiums.
Langley has been playing stadiums this year while opening for Wallen, before then returning to arenas when she's playing her own headline shows on the Dandelion Tour.
So the consideration for 2027, if we accept that Langley can't yet headline stadiums across North America, is whether she joins another stadium tour like Morgan Wallen's or Chris Stapleton's (Luke Combs has already announced the openers for his), or whether she sticks solely to arena shows and headlining festival dates, perhaps with the addition of standalone stadium shows in country strongholds.
Surely, if you're in Langley's snakeskin boots, you have to opt for the latter. Headlining the festival dates will give Langley the chance to perform in front of the larger crowds she's become accustomed to on Wallen's Still the Problem Tour, while she'll continue building her loyal fanbase through her gradually growing arena dates. A four-night run at a sizeable arena feels much more impressive than a half-empty stadium, as Post Malone and Jelly Roll found out earlier this year.
And then when you look abroad, while headlining Wembley Stadium feels like a stretch for 2027, it certainly feels within Langley's reach to headline BST Hyde Park - which will put her in front of a maximum of roughly 70,000 UK fans - with a strong opener.
The reason it feels like a backwards step to join another stadium tour - like Wallen's - in 2027, despite the opportunity to play bigger venues, is that it consolidates the idea Wallen is still the ‘bigger’ artist than Langley. And while this is evident from streaming figures and ticket sales, given the rate at which Langley's listenership has grown in 2026, the gap could be significantly narrower come late 2027. On Spotify already, Wallen's monthly listeners tally is 32.1 million, while Langley's is only a whisker behind this, at a whopping total of 31.5 million.
We saw the danger of saying ‘yes’ to a major tour of this kind, and it backfiring in terms of the optics. Look at when Lainey Wilson won CMA Entertainer of the Year in 2023 - the main criticism levelled at Wilson was the fact that, earlier that same year, she'd been opening for Luke Combs - another candidate for Entertainer of the Year - and Eric Church, and would be opening for Wallen the following year.
Quite frankly, at this point, Langley is simply too big to be opening for anyone. But it seems she's not quite big enough to sell out stadiums yet, either - at least not a full-blown stadium tour in the mould of Wallen, Zach Bryan and Combs’ 2026 runs.
Which means that, although the focus is often placed on the music, it feels like, in 2027, the spotlight will be on Langley's imminent touring plans, especially if she does take the Entertainer of the Year crown at the 2026 CMA Awards later this month.
It would leave her open to the Wilson backlash if, a matter of weeks after being named Entertainer of the Year, Langley is unveiled as an opener for Wallen's 2027 tour. The fact that she's second on the bill behind Wallen for Sand in My Boots Festival 2027 is a little concerning, but understandable, given it's Wallen's festival.
Langley's ascent has been one of the most thrilling developments in country music over the past twelve months or so. As the momentum behind ‘Choosin’ Texas’ starts to inevitably wane around Christmas, and with there being no need for a new album in 2027 after Dandelion, all eyes will be on how Langley approaches the year.
We suspect that, at least when it comes to venue sizes, quality over quantity will be the wisest strategy, as Langley seeks to solidify her place at the pinnacle of the genre.
This feels especially true in a year when so many artists that have previously sold out stadiums with ease have been affected by so-called ‘Blue Dot Fever’, where swathes of empty seats have led to cancellations and postponements. Langley's 2026 story has been one of success after success after success, and the last thing the country titan needs are the now-ubiquitous headlines about unsold tickets.
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