Luke Combs’ ‘Fast Car,’ Justin Moore & Priscilla Block’s ‘Whiskey’ Hit Country Airplay Top 10
Written by djfrosty on June 9, 2023
Luke Combs sends his 17th consecutive career-opening single to the top 10 of Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, as his crossover hit “Fast Car” keeps on driving, rising from No. 11 to No. 6 on the June 17-dated list.
In the week ending June 8, the song surged by 27% to 22.6 million audience impressions, according to Luminate, good for Greatest Gainer honors for the third time in four weeks.
“Fast Car” – originally a No. 6 Billboard Hot 100 hit for Tracy Chapman, who wrote the song, in 1988 – concurrently bullets at Nos. 15, 18 and 25 on Adult Contemporary, Adult Pop Airplay and Pop Airplay, respectively.
The cover follows Combs’ “Going, Going, Gone,” which led Country Airplay for two weeks in March, becoming 15th No. 1. His debut entry, “Hurricane” dominated for two weeks starting in May 2017.
Combs has a second solo single climbing Country Airplay, as “Love You Anyway” lifts 15-13 (14.2 million, up 7%). Plus, he’s featured on Riley Green’s “Different ‘Round Here” (Big Machine Label Group), which rises 45-42 (2 million, up 13%).
Combs’ “Fast Car” is the first Country Airplay top 10 remake of a Hot 100 top 10 since Reba McEntire’s “Because of You” with Kelly Clarkson reached No. 2 in September 2007. It updated Clarkson’s original, which hit No. 7 on the Hot 100 in November 2005.
Before that, two such covers hit Country Airplay in 1999: Alabama’s “God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You” featuring *NSYNC hit No. 3, after *NSYNC’s original reached No. 8 on the Hot 100 that year, and Mark Chesnutt’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” led for two weeks after Aerosmith’s original topped the Hot 100 for four frames in 1998.
Top-Shelf ‘Whiskey’
Justin Moore and Priscilla Block’s “You, Me, and Whiskey” also hits the Country Airplay top 10, ascending 12-10 (17.1 million, up 13%). It’s Moore’s 14th top 10 and first since “With a Woman You Love” became his 10th No. 1 last September.
Block achieves her first top 10, after her debut single — “Just About Over You” — reached No. 14 in December 2021 and “My Bar” hit No. 26 last September.
Additional reporting by Gary Trust.