The Single of the Year category at this year’s CMA Awards featured a stacked list of nominees. All five tracks have earned their respective artists an incredible year, but as always, there can only be one winner. Unsurprisingly, Luke Combs got to take this one home for his cover of “Fast Car.”
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Combs’ cover gave the Tracy Chapman-penned track a much-needed rebirth. It topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs Chart and remains’ Combs’ biggest song of the year.
[RELATED: Luke Combs Reveals Why He Won’t Prepare an Acceptance Speech Ahead of the 2023 CMA Awards]
“I never intended for it [to do this],” Combs said during his acceptance speech. “I just recorded it because I love this song so much. It’s meant so much to me throughout my entire life. It’s the first favorite song that I ever had from the time I was four years old.
“I want to thank my beautiful wife, my two sons watching at home, my parents watching the kids,” he continued.
Chapman originally released “Fast Car” in 1988. It also charted upon its original release, clinching the No. 6 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Chapman also took home the award for Song of the Year for “Fast Car” at this year’s CMA Awards.
The other nominees for Single of the Year included HARDY, Lainey Wilson, Jelly Roll, and Jordan Davis. HARDY and Wilson earned many nominations for “wait in the truck.” The murder ballad has been a significant player in both singers’ rise to fame. Wilson was nominated twice in this category. Her second nod was for “Heart Like a Truck.”
Jelly Roll earned a whopping five nominations this year, despite being a relatively fresh face in this scene. His personal story of redemption, “Need a Favor,” earned many nods during country’s biggest night.
Davis’ jovial “Next Thing You Know” is one of a few odes to enduring love that he has in his catalog. The song earned three nominations–all for major awards–during this year’s ceremony.
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