Luke Combs’ highly anticipated new EP, The Prequel, is out today via River House Artists/Columbia Nashville. Stream/purchase HERE. In celebration of the release, Combs will host his Second Annual Bootleggers Fan Club Party today in Nashville—stream the event live via Combs’ Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages starting at 12:00 p.m. CT.
Produced by Scott Moffatt, the EP features five new songs co-written by Combs including lead single, “Beer Never Broke My Heart, which debuted at No. 2 on Billboard’s Country Streaming Songs chart with 11 million streams—setting the record for the best first week of streaming ever for a country song. The song also recently set the record for most adds on the Mediabase/Country Aircheck chart with 149 adds and debuted at No. 15 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart—the top entrance by any artist since September 2012 and Combs’ highest debut to date. In celebration of the new music, Combs recently performed the track on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” Watch/share HERE. Additionally, watch the song’s official music video HERE.
Recent critical acclaim for Combs: “…a bona fide country music superstar.”— Rolling Stone
“With five No. 1 singles under his belt…Combs proved his naysayers wrong.” — Billboard
“No one in country music is hotter than Luke Combs right now.” — Taste of Country
“…it’s not hard to see why his music has caught on; Combs has tapped into the classic country themes of heartbreak and drinking, while also adding something fresh to them, too.” — AXS
“…the genre’s brightest new star.” — Idolator
“…arena filling country-rock sound with chugging electric guitars, thundering drums and Combs’ muscular vocal rasp…”—Sounds Like Nashville
“The unstoppable, runaway freight train, rocket to the moon, cruise missile of country music momentum known as Luke Combs continues to rip country music a new one.” — Whiskey Riff
“There might not be a bigger male country star right now than Luke Combs.” — Cleveland Plain Dealer
“One of the best things to happen to country music…Combs is the genuine article—a brilliant songwriter with the booming voice to match. — Green Bay Press Gazette
“…Combs has the goods. He is blessed with a voice that hits a sweet spot with country music fans and he gives off a vibe that he is genuine as you can get.” — Tulsa World
The release of The Prequel celebrates a monumental year for Combs, who recently won CMT Performance of the Year at the 2019 CMT Music Awards for his performance of “Beautiful Crazy” from CMT Crossroads with Leon Bridges. Additionally, Combs was awarded Top Country Artist, Top Country Male Artist and Top Country Album at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards, New Male Artist of the Year at the 2019 ACM Awards, Country Artist of the Year at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards, New Artist of the Year at the 52nd Annual CMA Awards, was nominated for Best New Artist at the 61st GRAMMY Awards and was the recipient of a CMA Triple Play Award for writing three No. 1 songs in a 12 month period.
Combs also recently made history as the first artist to simultaneously top all five Billboard country charts for multiple weeks: Top Country Albums, Hot Country Songs, Country Airplay, Country Streaming Songs and Country Digital Song Sales (dated March 9, March 30 and April 6). Moreover, Combs’ previous 2x Platinum single, “Beautiful Crazy,” spent seven-straight weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart—tying the second longest run atop the chart since its launch in 1990. “Beautiful Crazy” is also the first country single shipped to radio already Platinum-certified since Taylor Swift’s “Red” in 2013, has more than 400 million on-demand streams and makes Combs the first artist ever to send his first five singles to the top of Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.
Continuing his landmark year, Combs sold out venues in 25 of the 29 cities on his newly confirmed “Beer Never Broke My Heart” fall tour in the first weekend tickets were on-sale. He broke records at Bozeman’s Brick Breeden Fieldhouse, Bloomington’s Grossinger Motors Arena and Bossier City’s CenturyLink Center for the fastest sell out times in venue history. Additional sold-out shows include Kansas City’s Sprint Center, Portland’s Moda Center, Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center, Phoenix’s Talking Stick Resort Arena, Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center and Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena among several others. Special guests throughout the tour include Morgan Wallen, The Cadillac Three and Jameson Rodgers. See below for complete tour details.
The Prequel is Combs’ first release following his double platinum certified debut album, This One’s For You, which was released June 2, 2017 and has spent a total of 35 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart—the longest reign for a solo male artist in over 25 years. The album also spent 16 weeks at No. 1 in 2018—making it the highest selling country album last year with 1.1 million equivalent album units sold and the only country album to surpass 1 million album units. It’s also the most-streamed country album of 2019 so far. THE PREQUEL TRACK LIST1. Beer Never Broke My Heart (written by Luke Combs, Randy Montana, Jonathan Singleton) 2. Refrigerator Door (written by Luke Combs, Jordan Brooker) 3. Even Though I’m Leaving (written by Luke Combs, Wyatt B. Durrette III, Ray Fulcher) 4. Lovin’ On You (written by Luke Combs, Thomas Archer, Ray Fulcher, James McNair) 5. Moon Over Mexico (written by Luke Combs, Ray Fulcher, Dan Isbell, Jonathan Singleton)