More than three decades since its radio heyday, the songwriter’s original 1988 recording is back on the charts at Number 42
Tracy Chapman‘s “Fast Car” has darted back onto Billboard’s Hot 100 at Number 42 this week following a surge in sales and streams after she performed the track with Luke Combs at the Grammy Awards a week ago. The re-entry marks the first time Chapman’s version has made it onto the songs chart in more than 35 years, per the publication: “Fast Car” last appeared on the Hot 100 for the week of Oct. 22, 1988.
The song’s resurgent week can mainly be attributed to an astronomical jump in traditional sales after the Grammys performance with 35,000 last week, a more than 8,000 percent boost from the week prior. But streams jumped significantly as well with more than 6 million last week, more than double the week before. The song’s streams more than tripled the day after the Grammys, as Rolling Stone reported last week.
Chapman’s version had of course been thrown back into the mainstream after Combs released his cover of the song last April. His version topped the country chart last year, making Chapman the first Black woman to have a Number One country song as its sole writer.
Since then, Combs’ version had spent much of the following year near the top of the Hot 100, peaking at Number Two. His version climbed back up to 8 following his Chapman duet, Billboard reported Monday. That performance was among the most beloved segmetns of the awards this year, a moment several months in the making that first began with a 30-minute private conversation between Chapman and Combs in November.
