Luke Combs Passes Garth Brooks as Country's Highest-Certified Artist
Luke Combs Passes Garth Brooks as Country’s Highest-Certified Artist
Garth Brooks was country music’s highest-certified artist, until Luke Combs surpassed the “Friends in Low Places” singer for the honor, according to Billboard. It was announced Monday that Combs was certified by the Recording Industry of America (RIAA) as the genre’s leader.
Combs has sold and streamed over 168 million units, according to the RIAA, while Brooks sits at 162.5 million. Brooks previously held the record for over 20 years.
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When informed of his record, Combs didn’t believe it at first:
“When my team first told me about this, my initial reaction was, ‘Are you sure? There’s no way.’ It was only 8 years ago that I got my first [RIAA] plaque for “Hurricane” going gold,” Combs said in a statement. “I knew then, without a doubt, I had the best fans in the world. The song had gone platinum before they could even give me the gold plaque. I’m super humbled by the fans’ belief in me and support of my music today and over the years. I know this does not happen without them. This achievement is more so theirs than it is mine. All I ever hoped and dreamed of from the beginning of this crazy ride was to make music that made people feel something and I can’t wait to continue making country music for the rest of my life.”
Prior to the announcement, Combs held the record for the most Diamond-Certified singles for a country artist. He achieved the feat through the success of four of his singles; “Beautiful Crazy,” “When It Rains It Pours,” “Hurricane” and “She Got the Best of Me.” A Diamond-certified single must have sold and/or streamed 10 million units to achieve the certification.
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Combs has had a nice run through 2025 so far. He has been nominated for three CMA Awards, which take place in November. His current single, “Back in the Saddle,” moved into No. 8 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. On Friday, he released The Prequel, a three-song EP with the songs “My Kinda Saturday Night,” “15 Minutes” and “Days Like These.”
In addition to being country’s highest-certified artist, Combs is ninth among all artists of all time. To add some more perspective, Drake and Taylor Swift lead all other artists at 298.5 million and 242.5 million units sold and streamed respectively.
Luke Combs Passes Garth Brooks as Country’s Highest-Certified Artist was originally published on 93qcountry.com
