February has been a big month for Luke Combs. He started the year strong at the Grammy Awards. While he didn’t take home a trophy, he did share the stage with Tracy Chapman. Later, he called performing “Fast Car” with her a career-defining moment. Last week, Riley Green’s “Different ‘Round Here” featuring Combs went to the top of the Country Aircheck/Mediabase chart. This week, the North Carolina native scored a No. 1 on the same chart with “Where the Wild Things Are.”
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Combs released “Where the Wild Things Are” in October as the third single from his latest album Gettin’ Old. It has been climbing the charts since he sent it into the world. It peaked at No. 1 in Canada. The song also did well on the Billboard charts. It sits at No. 3 on the Country Airplay chart and No. 6 on the Hot Country Songs chart.
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Country music chart insider Chris Owen shared the news of Comb’s latest accomplishment on Twitter earlier today. He also noted that this makes 18 career solo chart-toppers for the “You Found Yours” singer. Counting singles where he is a featured artist, he now has 20 No. 1 singles.
Luke Combs Almost Didn’t Record “Where the Wild Things Are”
Unlike many of Combs’ strongest tracks, he doesn’t have a writing credit on “Where the Wild Things Are.” Instead, Randy Montana and Dave Turnbull co-penned the song long before Combs recorded it. Interestingly, Montana also co-penned “Different ‘Round Here.” So, this gives him his second No. 1 in two weeks. This is Turnbull’s first chart-topper since Brad Paisley’s “Old Alabama” went to the top in 2011.
According to Combs’ frequent collaborator Dan Isbell, Eric Church almost cut the song before Combs picked it up. “[Church] almost cut it,” Isbell said. “I couldn’t believe that song couldn’t land somewhere,” he added, noting that the song had been floating around Nashville for quite some time before it found a home on Gettin’ Old.
The thing that makes it stand out among Combs’ catalog is the same thing that allowed it to float around for so long: it’s a story song. “At the time, nobody was cutting story songs at all, really. I mean, outside of Eric Church, probably,” Combs said of the song.
He took a chance on a song that resonated with him even though it didn’t fit the popular mold of the day. Now, it’s among his biggest hits. There’s a lesson to be learned there.
Featured Image by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for BetMGM
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