All hail queen Tracy Chapman. The legendary artist has always been treated with a certain degree of reverence, but this past weekend, her beautiful performance of “Fast Car” with Luke Combs at the Grammys introduced her art to a whole new generation of soon-to-be-obsessed fans. In a particularly fun little metric, Chapman’s page is currently the most viewed article on all of Wikipedia, beating out other legacy artists like Joni Mitchell and Billy Joel, and even the night’s biggest newsmakers like Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift. 36 years after their release, both “Fast Car” and the album it appears on—her self-titled debut (!) from 1988—soared to the no. 1 spots on their respective iTunes charts.
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Now, you can not only revisit Chapman’s legacy, but you can do it in a slightly more authentic form. This morning, fans like this writer who have listened to Chapman for years but weren’t alive when the original record was released (or are too cheap to buy it on vinyl) were in for a little shock upon queueing the resurgent anthem: the cover of Chapman’s album is no longer purple. For years, Spotify has featured what appears to be a low-quality scan of the album’s original, tan cover art—one that many listeners likely assumed was correct in the first place.
While Apple Music appears to have been using the right image for a while now, a user on Twitter/X pointed out that the faded art was still up on Spotify and YouTube Music at least as recently as last night. It’s now fixed across all platforms. Neither Elektra Entertainment (Chapman’s label), Spotify, YouTube Music, nor the below poster immediately responded to The A.V. Club’s requests for comment on this story. Regardless, it’s wonderful to see such an important album finally getting the shine it deserves.
Luke Combs’ cover of “Fast Car,” which the country artist released this past March, did extremely well for him; it peaked at no. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart last year and was even nominated for a Grammy of its own for Best Country Solo Performance. (Combs lost to Chris Stapleton’s “White Horse.”) In a video that played before the pair’s performance (via NPR), Combs called “Fast Car” his “favorite song before I even knew what a favorite song was.” “It can be felt and related to by all kinds of people around the world,” he continued. “Just to be associated with her in any way is super humbling for me.”