Rome wasn’t built in a day. Luke Combs’ “Fast Car,” it seems, was built in about a month.
The River House/Columbia Nashville star’s Tracy Chapman cover is currently blowing up on four charts as radio responds to this streaming giant, Combs’ first bona fide crossover pop hit.
The cut has now jumped into the Top 10 at Country radio, the Top 20 at Hot AC, the Top 15 at AC and the Top 25 at Pop, and it’s only accelerating. This will be one of the big records of the year and a signature hit for the artist. Peter Gray’s Columbia team and Steve Hodges’ Sony Nashville squad have moved quickly to make this one a priority.
Credit is due to the players who delivered big multiformat, national looks, notably Tom Poleman and Rob Miller at iHeart, Steve Salhany and Mark Anderson at Audacy (the latter being the first to put the song into Power, at WBZZ Pittsburgh), Kurt Johnson at Townsquare and Phil Becker at Alpha.
Meanwhile, “Fast Car” continues to rev its engine at the DSPs, moving into the Top 5 of our most recent Overall Song Streams chart.
We’re beginning to see a similar uptick at radio for two other songs we’ve been talking about lately, David Kushner’s “Daylight” and Lil Durk’s “All My Life” f/J. Cole. Stay tuned for details.
