Luke Combs Lands 21st Country Airplay No. 1 With 'Be By You'
Luke Combs has notched his 21st No. 1 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart, as "Be By You" rose one spot to the summit on 32.8 million audience impressions — a measure of how many listeners heard the song on radio — for the Aug. 14–20 tracking week, according to Luminate Billboard.
The song is the third Country Airplay chart-topper from Combs' album The Way I Am, following "Back in the Saddle," which spent two weeks at No. 1 in November 2025, and "Sleepless in a Hotel Room," which held the spot for five weeks in April 2026 Billboard. The album arrived in March 2026 and at one point had three songs simultaneously in the Country Airplay top 10 Billboard.
What makes this particular No. 1 stand out is who wrote it. Combs has a writing credit on 19 of the 22 songs on The Way I Am, but "Be By You" is not one of them. It was written by Dan Alley, Sam Banks and Nick Walsh, and came to Combs through a friend. Combs said in a March statement that "the vibe and the melody immediately struck me" Billboard.
It is only the third time one of Combs' Country Airplay No. 1s was a song he did not write. The others were Jameson Rodgers' "Cold Beer Calling My Name," which featured Combs and topped the chart for a week in 2021, and his cover of Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car," which spent five weeks at No. 1 in 2023 Billboard.
Combs is now one of just 11 artists in Country Airplay chart history — which dates to the chart's 1990 launch — with at least 21 No. 1s, tying Thomas Rhett and Keith Urban Billboard. The all-time leaders are Kenny Chesney (33), Blake Shelton (30), Tim McGraw (29), Jason Aldean (27), Luke Bryan, Alan Jackson and George Strait (26 each), and Morgan Wallen (22) Billboard.
Beyond radio, "Be By You" entered the multimetric Hot Country Songs chart at its No. 2 peak in February and spent its first six months in the top 10 Billboard. The song is one of Combs' 27 career top 10s on that chart, a tally that includes six No. 1s Billboard. For the Aug. 7–13 week, it drew 7.3 million official streams, 34.3 million airplay audience impressions and sold 1,000 copies Billboard.
All Billboard charts dated Aug. 29 were set to update on Billboard.com on Tuesday, Aug. 25 Billboard.
