For the first time in more than four decades, country songs have topped the two top slots of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the publication reports. Morgan Wallen‘s “Last Night” lands at No. 1 while Luke Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s 1988 hit “Fast Car” is in the No. 2 slot.
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Both hits mark the first time in 42 years that country songs have filled the top two slots of the Hot 100 chart. The last time this happened was March 7, 1981, when Eddie Rabbitt’s “I Love a Rainy Night” and Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” placed at No. 1 and 2, respectively.
With “Last Night,” Wallen has managed to chart all 36 songs from his latest album, One Thing at a Time. That album also has topped Billboard‘s Top Country Albums and 200 charts, while Combs’ 2023 album, Gettin’ Old, peaked at No. 2 on the publication’s Top Country Albums and No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart.
“Fast Car,” featured on Gettin’ Old, was more than another cover song for Combs. He recently shared that he would listen to the Chapman hit, and her entire eponymous album, while driving around with his father in a beat-up 1988 Ford F-150.
“There was this one song that really stuck out to me,” said Combs during a recent concert. “It was called ‘Fast Car.’ That song meant a lot to me since then—for my whole life. I always think about my dad when it comes on and us spending time together.”
Combs first released a small sampling of the song six years ago but never released his full rendition. Now that the song has been released, Combs would like to make an official music video for “Fast Car” and also hopes to work with Chapman one day, according to his manager Chris Kappy.
“The demand from our fans has been rabid for ‘Fast Car’ since he first released a snippet of it more than six years ago,” said Kappy. “We also felt that it would help draw non-country fans into the genre and experience the wonder that is country music. This song is an iconic masterpiece, and we all felt that it was the perfect song to crossover to a new audience that we didn’t particularly have.”
Also tying into their mutual record-breaking chart positions, Combs recently hinted at a possible collaboration with Wallen in the future, once they find that “perfect song.”
“We text about it,” said Combs. “It’s like, you’ve got to find the perfect song for that, tough. Our consensus is that we want to write it, or it has to be the perfect song. If you got it, the perfect song, we’re listening.”
Photo (l to r): Morgan Wallen by David Lehr / Courtesy of Essential Broadcast Media (EBM); Luke Combs by Jason Kempin/Getty Images
