Luke Combs said either he or Morgan Wallen is the current number one country music star in the world. Combs made these comments on a Jun. 16 episode of the Full Send podcast.
“So who’s the number one country music star in the world right now?” Host Bob Menery asked Combs.
“Ooh man, it’s either me or [Morgan] Wallen, for sure,” Combs answered.
“Now we’re getting into something,” Menery remarked.
“Is there any competitiveness there,” Host Kyle Forgeard asked.
“I mean, I think anybody who says there’s not is lying, you know,” Combs admitted. “I think any business is competitive,” he added.
“Friendly, or [not]?” Forgeard pressed Combs.
“Dude, I love Morgan,” Combs said. “I think he’s a great guy, man. I really do. And we’ve been on tour together, man, you know. I mean, I don’t think there’s any, at least to my knowledge, that it’s like…I don’t know of any country music [feud] like, ‘oh, I hate this guy, I can’t stand this guy.’ Like I don’t know of anything, at least that comes to mind straight away.”
“But I think that competition is key,” Foregeard said, to which Combs responded, “dude, 100 percent.”
“It drives people to be their best, man,” he continued.
Combs appeared on the Full Send podcast ahead of the release of his third studio album, Growin’ Up, which drops on Jun. 24. The album features 12 tracks, including his latest No. 1 hit, “Doin’ This,” as well as “Tomorrow Me,” and his Miranda Lambert collaboration, “Outrunnin’ Your Memory.”
In an interview with the New York Times about his new album, Combs described the project as a “transitional phase,” sharing that there are no songs about beer on this body of work, a contrast from his 2020 album, What You See Ain’t Always What You Get, which featured his mega-smash, “Beer Never Broke My Heart.”
“I’m in this transitional phase where there are days that I’m like, ‘I could crush 100 beers tonight at a bar and play for five hours,’” Combs told the Times. “Other nights, I don’t want to get off the couch. I want to hang with my wife and get ready to have this kid.”
Outside of his musical endeavors, Combs and his wife Nicole are preparing to welcome their first child, a son, this month. Combs will also be hitting the road on tour this fall.
Meanwhile, Wallen is currently performing on his Dangerous Tour.
