Luke Combs Scores Unprecedented 10th Consecutive No. 1 With ‘Better Together’

Luke Combs is continuing to break his own records, earning an unprecedented 10th consecutive No. 1 song to start a career with his latest single, “Better Together.” This makes Combs the first country artist to open a career with 10 consecutive No. 1s on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, one of multiple landmarks that the 30-year-old has crossed since releasing his debut single, “Hurricane,” in 2016.

“Better Together” was written by Combs, Dan Isbell and Randy Montana and is the fifth single from Combs’ sophomore album, 2019’s What You See Is What You Get. The romantic track is the second in a trio of love songs Combs wrote for his wife, Nicole, which also includes Combs’ 2017 hit “Beautiful Crazy” and new song “Forever After All,” which appears on the deluxe version of What You See Is What You Get.

“I wrote this song in Boone probably two years ago, something like that, and ‘Beautiful Crazy’ was already done and out at that time and so I kind of felt like I needed to do another song that was kind of… I guess its ended up kind of turning into like a trilogy,” he told KISS 104.1. “It’s ‘Beautiful Crazy’ and then it’s ‘Better Together’ and then ‘Forever After’ all will be coming out on this deluxe and I feel like that’s kind of our total story up to this point, in a way. And so, you know, I just wanted her to know, you know, I’m always thinking about her, and there’s always inspiration there.”

With his latest No. 1, the North Carolina native is now on the heels of Luke Bryan, who currently holds the record for most No. 1 songs from one album on the Country Airplay chart with his six chart-toppers from 2015’s Kill the Lights. Next month, Combs will play his first live show since March 2020 when he performs a pre-race concert ahead of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 14.

“If you would’ve told me back then that I’d be performing at the Daytona 500 one day, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Combs said in an email to the Associated Press, adding that he “can’t wait” to feel the energy of a live show again.

“It’s the thing that allows the fan to be connected to the artist in a very intimate way, something that you can’t really explain,” he shared. “Live music is a way for us to be able to disconnect from everything else, and just be there in the moment. The pandemic has definitely hurt our industry as a whole, but I personally just really miss being on stage every night with the guys and the fans.”