Affable country singer and American Idol heartthrob Luke Bryan turns 48 years old this week. Over the course of his career, Bryan has earned five prestigious Entertainer of the Year awards, collected 30 No. 1 songs, amassed 21.3 billion global streams, 11.5 million album sales, and 55.3 million track sales worldwide.
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The Georgia native is the most digital single RIAA certified country artist of all time with 85M digital single units and 16M album certified units for a total of 101M. He was recently presented with the SoundExchange Hall of Fame Award in recognition of his standing as one of the most streamed artists in SoundExchange’s 20-year history.
In honor of his birthday, here are five of Bryan’s most important singles:
Luke Bryan: “Do I”
Luke Bryan co-wrote “Do I” – his first No. 1 hit – with Lady A’s Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood. The trio’s Hillary Scott sang background on the ballad that explores a romantic relationship that has possibly fizzled out.
The lyrics include:
Do I turn you on at all when I kiss you, baby?| Does the sight of me wanting you drive you crazy?| Do I have your love?| Am I still enough?| Tell me don’t I? Or tell me, do I, baby?
“Do I” topped the country airplay charts in 2009 and is from Bryan’s album, “Doin’ My Thing.”
Luke Bryan: “Drink a Beer”
“Drink a Beer” is a more somber song than Bryan was known for when he released it in 2013. The lyrics about the grief one feels after losing a loved one are in stark contrast to the party anthem songs that he’d mostly chosen for singles.
Lyrics include:
Funny how the good ones go| Too soon, but the good Lord knows| The reasons why, I guess| Sometimes the greater plan is kinda hard to understand
Bryan called “Drink a Beer” “one of the coolest sad songs I’ve ever heard.”
In 2015, Bryan told The Tennessean he’s always felt “Drink a Beer” was “a really special song.”
“I’m just proud for the writers Jim Beavers and Chris Stapleton,” he said. “I felt like they wrote a song of Song of the Year caliber. When I perform it night in and night out and watch people cry and see it really affect them, it’s really special for me. It’s indicative of what a song of the year does. It draws up all this emotion, and that’s what ‘Drink a Beer’ does.”
Luke Bryan: “Country Girl (Shake It for Me)”
Luke Bryan had hit songs before “Country Girl (Shake It for Me),” but after releasing the song in 2011, Bryan told Long Island’s WJVC he’d never had a song that earned such a big reaction from his audience.
Bryan co-wrote “Country Girl (Shake It for Me)” with Dallas Davidson and said the men thought they had something “pretty fun and pretty special” when they were finished.
“So, it’s pretty cool when you have the opportunity to see people like a song and enjoy it,” he said. “We’re having fun playing it, and what’s crazy is I’ve told people, ‘Heck, man, it’s been the biggest reaction song that we’ve had.”We’re pretty happy to have it out, and we feel like it should do pretty well for us.”
The song took Bryan’s career to the next level when he performed it on the CMT Music Awards and debuted his hip-grinding dance routine on television. More than a decade later, Bryan still turns his ballcap backward and bends his knees to give him ultimate hip action during the song.
Luke Bryan: “Most People Are Good”
Luke Bryan almost didn’t record his three-week No. 1 song “Most People Are Good” for his 2017 album “What Makes You Country.” Another artist had already claimed the positive, feel-good anthem. When he song was available, snapped it up. He knew it was a powerhouse of a song with a message the world needed to hear.
Lyrics include: I believe you love who you love| Ain’t nothing you should ever be ashamed of| I believe this world ain’t half as bad as it looks| I believe most people are good
“I remember thinking, ‘There’s not a wasted line,’” Bryan told The Tennessean the first time he heard “Most People are Good.” The song was written by Ed Hill, Josh Kear, and David Frasier. “Every line in the song is perfectly placed, and I was excited about that.”
Luke Bryan: “Love You, Miss You, Mean It”
Luke Bryan recently released his new single, “Love You, Miss You, Mean It,” on country radio. He said that the song reminds him of a simpler time in his life.
The first time he heard “Love You, Miss You, Mean It,” he didn’t think about its nostalgic qualities and just enjoyed it for what it was. However, after he recorded it, everyone who heard it picked up on its familiar themes.
“Everybody’s like, ‘Oh my God, this kind of sounds like vintage throwback Luke stuff,” Bryan said. “I’m like, ‘Well, I don’t realize that. But then it kind of does.”
He said the rollercoaster love story of high school sweethearts resonates with people and that “Love You, Miss You, Mean It” spoke to him on all the same levels. While he didn’t write the lyrics, they are even a bit autobiographical.
“Caroline and I actually did the college sweetheart breakup-and-get-back-together,” he said. “The song just felt right. It felt good, and it felt that way from the first listen. I heard it and it just felt like it had all the elements of a big hit song. Then you got to go in and record it, and the rest is history.”
(Photo by Terry Wyatt/WireImage)
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