Luke Combs Greatest Hits: 14 of the Songwriter’s Top Tunes, Ranked
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Luckily for his fans, Luke Combs isn’t a quitter. “The first eight months [after I moved to Nashville], nobody would touch me with a ten-foot pole. I had meetings with publishers and labels, and people would say, ‘Man, the songs just aren’t that great,’” the country singer has shared with CMT, adding, “It was fuel for me. That motivated me so much.”
And look who’s laughing now. Listening to country radio these days is like listening to a Luke Combs greatest hits CD, as the artist who grew up listening to Vince Gill, Clint Black, Brooks & Dunn, Garth Brooks is just as big a star as his heroes thanks to years of tireless dedication to his craft. “I don’t claim to be the world’s best songwriter or anything, but I can tell you what: I would outwork anybody, for sure, as far as that goes,” he’s told BMI, and last year, he proved it by tying for Songwriter of the Year honors at the BMI Country Music Awards.
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That’s just one of the latest in a long string of achievements for Combs, who’s been named 2018’s CMA New Artist of the Year; 2019’s and 2020’s CMA Male Vocalist of the Year; 2019’s Top Country Artist at the Billboard Music Awards; 2021’s Songwriter-Artist of the Year at the Nashville Songwriter Awards; and 2021’s and 2022’s CMA Entertainer of the Year, to name just a few.
There was a bit of irony, though, when the gifted songwriter took the stage to accept his Entertainer of the Year trophy at the CMAs in 2021. “I’m kind of at a loss for words.… I honestly don’t know what to say,” he announced to the crowd, before humbly thanking all his fans as well as his fellow artists. “Every single person that was nominated for this award this year — and every year before — deserves to win this,” he noted of fellow nominees Chris Stapleton, Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, and Eric Church, adding, “I don’t deserve to win it, but I’m sure as hell glad I did!”
It’s no wonder fans have embraced Combs, as he’s proven to be one of its most relatable artists. “I think it’s ‘what you see is what you get’” when it comes to him and his music, he told American Songwriter. “We go out there and play the stuff that’s on the record and it sounds like the record, and the singing’s good and the playing’s good and it’s just an honest show. There’s no bells and whistles or anything special about what we’re doing, the way we dress, or anything. It’s just a bunch of regular guys up there playing music and I think people are really drawn to that because they feel like it could be them up there.”
From his 2022 album Growin’ Up to 2023’s Gettin’ Old, the artist has made a concentrated effort to show the growth in his writing, taking his fans along for the ride as he’s become a married father of two, thanks to wife Nicole Hocking. “I want the music to continue to evolve and do things that challenge me or excite me,” he says, which certainly sounds like a winning combination for country music.
Luke Combs greatest hits, ranked
In the mood for some of Luke Combs greatest hits? Well, just read on and hit “play.”
14. “Lovin’ on You” (2020)
One of Luke Combs greatest hits, “Lovin’ on You” is a fun one to groove to, with its classic country sound (we could hear Brooks & Dunn covering this one, no problem!) and its catchy lyrics (“I can't get enough of you, honey, you’re right on the money, I’m a junkie for your midnight moves, I’m in love with lovin' on you”).
The video is just as playful and entertaining, featuring pint-size, roller-skating versions of Luke and his wife Nicole, plus the adult couple themselves, who share an oddly endearing laugh at the end over a whoopee cushion. It’s a, well, blast … trust us.
13. “Even Though I’m Leaving” (2019)
This is a classic country tearjerker told in three stages, starting with a little boy asking his father to help chase away monsters underneath his bed, then following that father-son relationship through the elder’s final days. “Man, it was just a really intense experience getting through that last verse,” Combs has revealed about having to fight back tears while recording the heartfelt track. “That was an emotional day, for sure.”
12. “She Got the Best of Me” (2018)
This fourth release from Combs as a new artist became his fourth No. 1 on country radio, making him the first solo act to ever achieve that feat. “I wrote this song actually on my second trip to Nashville. I was still in college at the time,” he shared with PopCulture.com of the power ballad, which is about a breakup that just may have set the singer up for success: “She got the best of me, she broke my heart. Now all that's left of me, is beatin' in this guitar.”
11. “One Number Away” (2018)
“One Number Away” is among Luke Combs greatest hits, and it’s about a guy who’s “one number away from calling” the ex he can’t get off his mind. “Will you pick up when I call? Or just forget we loved at all? We don’t have to talk, I just wanna hear your voice,” he sings of the dilemma in which anyone who’s ever lost in love has likely found themselves. Based on the dark turn the video takes, maybe it’s best to just punch in that last number and call …
10. “Love You Anyway” (2023)
“I'm super lucky to be married to my best friend,” Combs has said about his wife, and he’s also lucky to have quick-thinking pals. “Valentine’s Day 2020. I was playing a show and had dedicated ‘Beautiful Crazy’ to Nicole and said, ‘If you’re in [the arena], I love you. If not, you know I do anyway.’ Unknown to me, my buddy Dan wrote down ‘Love You Anyway’ as a title in his phone,” Combs shared on Instagram, and the rest, they say, is history — and another No. 1 song on country radio.
9. “Beer Never Broke My Heart” (2019)
This “right-in-your-face kind of thing” was “the most rockin’ thing that we [had] at that time,” Combs told CMT of this hard-stomping crowd favorite. “I wanted it to be fun and feel like an anthem-y thing,” he noted of his and his co-writers’ goal, and he has just as much of a blast playing it for his fans as they do hearing it. “Oh it’s super fun, I’ll tell you that much. It’s definitely a thrilling experience and the energy is really, really awesome.”
8. “Better Together” (2020)
The artist co-wrote this one for his wife Nicole, addressing “some things [that] just go better together and probably always will,” and the romantic ode, not surprisingly, landed at No. 1 on the country charts. “I just wanted her to know that I’m always thinking about her, and there’s always inspiration there. This song just happened to be what we came up with that day,” he says of the lyrics he, Randy Montana, and Dan Isbell produced.
7. “Hurricane” (2016)
Combs stormed onto country radio with his debut single, which went all the way to No. 1 on Billboard’s U.S. Country Airplay charts. “I never dreamed it would take me on the journey it has,” he posted on social media to his fans a year after its release, “but I took a chance on a song and you guys came through in an unbelievable way. I'll forever be grateful.”
6. “Beautiful Crazy” (2018)
One of Luke Combs greatest hits, “Beautiful Crazy” is another tune he wrote with his then-future wife Nicole in mind. “We weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend [yet], but we’d hung out. We were in no way dating. But I was falling for her so hard,” he admitted to CMT of the track that’d go on to win 2019’s CMA Song of the Year.
“I’d never written a song that personal. But I don’t think it will change things in the grand scheme of things,” he noted about its love-filled lyrics being an exception rather than the norm in his catalog. “You’re never gonna listen to one of my albums and think, ‘This guy is such a total love nerd.’ That’ll never happen. I’ll always love a good honky-tonk drinking song as much as the next guy.”
5. “Doin’ This” (2021)
“Someone asked me once in an interview…what would you do if you weren't doin' this?” Combs sings in the opening of this hit, which he dramatizes in its video. His answer is simple: “I’d have a Friday night crowd in the palm of my hand, cup of brown liquor, couple buddies in a band, singin’ them same damn songs like I am now,” he croons, insisting, “At the Grand Ole Opry or a show in some no-name town, I’d still be doin’ this if I wasn’t doin’ this.”
4. “Forever After All” (2019)
“Maybe some things last forever after all,” Combs sings in this track inspired by his better half, Nicole. “It’s the first song that I wrote in me and my wife’s house here in Tennessee and I felt like our relationship was taking the next step, and I just wanted to put that down on paper,” he told The Country Daily. In addition to topping the country charts, this sweet Combs tune went all the way to No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart as well.
3. “The Kind of Love We Make” (2022)
The artist shows off a sexier side than usual on this smooth, groovin’ track. “Let’s get some candles burnin’, some records turnin’,” he sings, and it’s clear what’s about to go down. He still manages to have some down-home fun in the video with those lyrics, though, as he’s performing in a firehouse when the aforementioned candles in some of the clip’s romantic scenes get a little too out of hand from all of the heat he’s singing about.
2. “When It Rains It Pours” (2017)
“We tried to have fun with it and write it in a ’90s early-Brad Paisley kind of song.… Luckily, in my opinion, we nailed it,” Combs has noted of this clever breakup tune, which recounts the lucky streak a guy goes on after his gal splits. “I was caller number five on a radio station, won a four-day, three-night beach vacation, deep-sea señorita fishin’ down in Panama,” he sings, leading up to the best part of all: “I ain't gotta see my ex-future-mother-in-law anymore. Oh Lord, when it rains it pours.”
1. “Fast Car” (2023)
The reigning 2023 CMA Single of the Year quickly became a huge No. 1 hit for Combs, who, as a seasoned songwriter himself, has a ton of admiration for Tracy Chapman, the artist who wrote the 1988 original version. (She earned Song of the Year honors for herself at the CMAs last year.)
“It meant a lot to me personally,” Combs told Billboard of Chapman’s heartfelt lyrics and the tune’s overall message, adding, “[It’s] one of the first songs that I even remember hearing, and probably my first favorite song that I ever had.” Adds Chapman about it becoming one of Luke Combs greatest hits, “I’m happy for Luke and his success and grateful that new fans have found and embraced ‘Fast Car.’”
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