This could end up being the biggest hit of Luke Combs‘ career.
Luke first sang Tracy Chapman’s hit “Fast Car” way back in 2018 in a low-quality acoustic preview from his hotel room, and fans had basically been begging for a studio version ever since.
And he finally delivered back in March when he dropped his latest album Gettin’ Old.
Originally written and recorded by Tracy Chapman, the song was released in 1988 as the lead single from her self-titled debut studio album. The Grammy-winning song has been regarded as one of the greatest songs of all time by a number of different publications – and it’s seen quite the resurgence with Luke’s newly-released version of the song.
The song has been a massive hit on streaming platforms, already racking up over 96 million streams on Spotify alone.
And before it was even released as an official single to country radio, Luke’s version had already reached #12 on the Mediabase country chart, and it’s now sitting inside the top 5 as it still continues to gain spins.
Luke released “Fast Car” not only to country radio, but also to Top 40 pop and Hot Adult Contemporary radio as well – and it’s crushing there too.
In fact, Luke’s version of the song is currently sitting at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking higher than Tracy Chapman’s original version did back in 1988 when it topped out at #6.
The song is also in the top 5 on the Mediabase country chart, sitting at #5, ahead of Luke’s other current single, “Love You Anyway,” which is at #12. And it’s currently sitting at #5 on the Billboard Country chart as well.
Just an absolutely monster run for one that’s only been on the charts for 8 weeks. In fact, it’s the fastest climb of any song since “Everybody Wants to Go To Heaven” by Kenny Chesney way back in 2008.
Of course, not everybody’s happy with the fact that Luke’s version is peaking higher than the original by Tracy Chapman:
Although if I had to guess, I’d say Tracy Chapman is probably enjoying the song’s renaissance: It’s currently sitting inside the top 100 on the Apple Music charts, which means a whole new audience is buying not only Luke’s version, but also the original.
Of course if I’m being honest, as much as I love Luke’s cover, nothing is going to beat the original for me either. And I bet if you asked Luke he would say the exact same thing.
