Tracy Chapman is officially a CMAs winner. The folk singer-songwriter, whose signature hit “Fast Car” came out in 1988 and reached a No. 6 peak on the Billboard Hot 100, nabbed a 2023 Country Music Association Award on Wednesday (Nov. 8) thanks to Luke Combs’ smash hit cover version, which reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 and topped the Hot Country Songs chart for four weeks.
Shortly after Combs won single of the year at the 2023 CMAs for “Fast Car,” Chapman — the sole writer of the song – won the song of the year CMA, which goes to a song’s writer(s).
Standing next to 86-year-old country legend Bill Anderson, Sara Evans – a new member of the Grand Ole Opry – read the acceptance speech that Chapman sent in: “I’m sorry I couldn’t join you all tonight. It’s truly an honor for my song to be newly recognized after 35 years of its debut. Thank you to the CMAs and a special thanks to Luke and all of the fans of ‘Fast Car.’”
Prior to Chapman’s win, Combs hailed her in his acceptance speech. “First of all, I want to thank Tracy Chapman for writing the best song of all time,” he said at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. “I just recorded it because I love this song so much, it’s meant so much to me throughout my entire life. It’s the first favorite song that I ever had, since I was four years old.”
Within a few months of Combs’ cover dropping, Chapman earned around $500,000 in publishing royalties from the song.
