‘Fast Car,’ Slow Turnover: Luke Combs’ Hit Is Fifth Straight Multi-Week Country Airplay No. 1

Luke Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s 1988 pop hit “Fast Car” tops Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (dated July 15) for a second week. In the tracking week ending July 6, the song increased by 1% to 33.6 million audience impressions, according to Luminate.

Combs claims his 12th Country Airplay No. 1 to dominate for more than a week, among his 16 leaders.

Plus, for the first time in almost 10 years, five consecutive Country Airplay chart-toppers rule for multiple weeks. The run started with Morgan Wallen’s “Thought You Should Know,” which led for its first of three weeks on the Feb. 25-dated chart, and continued with Combs’ Going, Going, Gone” (two, March 18), Bailey Zimmerman’s “Rock and a Hard Place” (six, April 1), Wallen’s “Last Night” (eight, May 13) and now “Fast Car.”

The last quintuplet of consecutive multi-week Country Airplay leaders occurred in August-October 2013, encompassing five two-week No. 1s each: Randy Houser’s “Runnin’ Outta Moonlight,” Brett Eldredge’s “Don’t Ya,” Keith Urban’s “Little Bit of Everything,” Florida Georgia Line’s “Round Here” and Jason Aldean’s “Night Train.”

“I think we have a couple things happening,” KBAY San Jose, Calif., program director Bo Matthews tells Billboard about the current streak by Combs and Wallen – who have four of the last five Country Airplay No. 1s – and Zimmerman. “The pop music cycle is not strong currently, and clearly country music is the winner. Consumption is higher with country music, and programmers are being smart, playing what their listeners want and embracing new country stars. What a great time to be in country music. We have the rock stars right now.”

“Country music is in such a good place right now,” echoes Cumulus Media vp of programming Charlie Cook. “The passion for the music is high and with tour season in full swing, fans are connecting with the acts and loving the music. Those one-week No. 1s are often [heavily driven by label promotion]. I like seeing songs finding their way to the top of the chart and settling in for more than one week.”