Luke Bryan Celebrates Seven Consecutive No. 1 Singles

Luke Bryan performs with songwriters Ashley Gorley, Dallas Davidson and Chris DeStefano.

When the line to check in at a No. 1 party looks more like admission to an exclusive concert, that can mean only one thing– it’s time to celebrate two-time CMA and ACM Entertainer of the Year Luke Bryan and his most recent seven consecutive No. 1 singles.

The special event at the Country Music Hall of Fame opened with appetizers and beverages upstairs for industry guests, who then joined a lucky group of fans downstairs in the CMA Theater. BMI’s Jody Williams greeted attendees, saying, “Luke is so hot, he’s had seven No. 1’s since our last No. 1 celebration.” Bryan has now garnered a total of 16 No. 1 songs in his career.

ASCAP’s Michael Martin took the stage to welcome the crowd and intrude Bryan’s performance. Foregoing the standard presentation of plaques and passing the mic at a usual chart-topper party, instead the writers of each hit performed their songs acoustically with Bryan and his band.

Bryan said, “I’m really excited to be on stage with all these writers and to showcase just how talented they are and how blessed I am as an artist– to get to write with them and have the opportunity for them to send me these songs.”

No. 1 Songs (Writers)
“Play It Again” (Dallas Davidson, Ashley Gorley)
“Roller Coaster” (Michael Carter, Cole Swindell)
“I See You” (Luke Bryan, Ashley Gorley, Luke Laird)
“Kick The Dust Up” (Dallas Davidson, Chris DeStefano, Ashley Gorley)
“Strip It Down” (Luke Bryan, Ross Copperman, Jon Nite)
“Home Alone Tonight” (Tommy Cecil, Jaida Dreyer, Jody Stevens, Cole Taylor)
“Huntin’, Fishin’, and Lovin’ Every Day” (Luke Bryan, Rhett Akins, Dallas Davidson, Ben Hayslip)

Pictured (L-R): Cindy Mabe, President, UMG Nashville; Luke Bryan; Mike Dungan, UMG Nashville’s Chairman & CEO; Kerri Edwards, KP Entertainment. Photo: Alan Poizner

Attendees enjoyed stories from the writers sprinkled between the performances. Songwriter Michael Carter played the demo of “Roller Coaster” for Bryan while sitting in his truck at a fire hall, and was thrilled when Bryan loved the song. “I just flipped out!” said the star at the time. Luke shared that the owners of the Panama City roller coaster that inspired the song even offered to sell it to him, but he declined after hearing the price.

Before joining Bryan on “I See You,” songwriter Luke Laird admitted, “I just try to get in the room with the right people.”

Bryan confessed that his son, Bo, made him play “Kick The Dust Up” so many times in the truck, “I had to cut it.”

Midway into the performances, an appreciative Bryan added, “This is like Christmas to me!”

Pictured (L-R): Ross Copperman, Rhett Akins, Michael Carter, Jody Stevens, Tommy Cecil, Cole Taylor, Dallas Davidson, Jaida Dreyer, Luke Bryan, Ashley Gorley, Jon Nite, Luke Laird, and Chris DeStefano. Photo: Photo: Alan Poizner

“Home Alone Tonight,” gave singer-songwriter Jaida Dreyer a chance to show the audience her impressive chops while singing the duet parts recorded by Karen Fairchild. Bryan confided, “My wife worshiped this song and still does.”

At the close of the performances, Mike Dungan, UMG Nashville’s Chairman & CEO, surprised Bryan with two plaques. One plaque commemorated the seven No. 1s having sold over 7 million tracks and over 600 million total combined streams. The second marked the RIAA Platinum certification of the Kill The Lights album, including 3.5 million tracks sold and over 400 million streams.

Dungan shared a recent conversation he had with Bryan: “Luke and I were out fishing and we were talking about some of the songs on the Crash My Party record and he said, ‘Man, Dungan, you remember when on that first record I couldn’t get anybody to write with me? But we had just enough success on that first record that I got some pretty good people to come in and write with me on the second one. And by the time that third one came around, I’ve got so many great songs being pitched to me, I don’t even have to write if I don’t want to.’” Dungan added, “We have all been blessed by the fact that we have all these great writers, who not only want to write with Luke, but for Luke. And we are up here to celebrate that today.”

Bryan ended the show with an entertaining cover of Shenandoah’s hit “Sunday in the South.”