--- description: Find out how Luke Combs is shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership. title: 2021 TIME100 Next: Luke Combs image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63721cd4e8a09675/698a171f011682465d980527/Luke-Combs.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Feb 17, 2021 # Luke Combs by Garth Brooks  BERLIN, GERMANY - MARCH 06: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been converted to black and white.) American singer Luke Combs performs live on stage during a concert at the Country To Country Festival on March 6, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Frank Hoensch/Redferns) BERLIN, GERMANY - MARCH 06: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been converted to black and white.) American singer Luke Combs performs live on stage during a concert at the Country To Country Festival on March 6, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Frank Hoensch/Redferns)Frank Hoensch—Redferns/Getty Images In this age of self-promotion, Luke Combs is letting everybody else do the talking for him. That’s big in country music, which is all about sincerity and humility. And—despite his achievements, including winning Best Album at the 2020 Country Music Awards—Luke has both of those in spades. He realizes that being a star is not up to him: the people will confirm it. Everything Luke tries—from Brooks & Dunn to classic country, neoclassic country and today’s country—he sounds very much at home. He’s a singer who you can tell is really comfortable. If I could pull him over and tell him one thing, it would be to just keep doing what he’s doing. Just follow that music. What resonates with him will resonate with the audience, with me, with everybody who’s listening. _Brooks is a Grammy Award–winning musical artist_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937668/luke-combs/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937668/luke-combs/"},"headline":"Luke Combs","datePublished":"2021-02-17T00:04:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:47:50.127Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937668/luke-combs/","keywords":["list","franchise","TIME 100 Next"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63721cd4e8a09675/698a171f011682465d980527/Luke-Combs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63721cd4e8a09675/698a171f011682465d980527/Luke-Combs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937668/luke-combs/","name":"Luke Combs"}}]}] ```