Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen tied as being named the BMI Songwriter of the Year. In honor of their joint award, Combs honored Wallen by performing a cover of Wallen’s No. 1 hit, “Thought You Should Know.”

The song, from Wallen’s recent  One Thing At A Time album, was written by Wallen with Miranda Lambert and Nicolle Galyon.

“We wrote that song for my mama, and she’s sitting right there, so thank you for singing that for her tonight,” Wallen said after Combs’ performance.

Honored to be @bmi Songwriter of the Year alongside my buddy @MorganWallen. Here’s a cover of “Thought You Should Know.” pic.twitter.com/kk1XmhbOjt

— Luke Combs 🎤 (@lukecombs) November 15, 2023

Although a video of their performance has yet to be released, Wallen returned the favor to Combs during the ceremony, performing Combs’ “Going, Going, Gone,” in tribute to the singer.

Combs and Wallen have been in friendly competition for years, with both singers dominating the charts and often nominated in the same awards categories. Perhaps surprisingly, Combs is happy about all of it, and remains Wallen’s biggest champion.

“People always want there to be a rivalry, right?” Combs said in a conversation with Grady Smith. “So there was Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean, there was that. There was Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney … People always need the yin and yang thing. I think it’s good for music.”

“We see it too, I’m sure those guys see it all the time, too,” he continued. “It’s like you’re just constantly compared, when really all three of us are insanely different to one another. … [We] couldn’t be more different in a lot of ways, musically speaking.”

Both Combs and Wallen were nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year at the recent CMA Awards, with those trophies going to Chris Stapleton and Lainey Wilson, respectively. Although Combs and Wallen’s careers are equal in a lot of ways, with both of them selling millions of albums, having back-to-back No. 1 singles and selling out stadiums, there is one way that Combs readily admits Wallen is beating him, and just about every body else.

“I think there’s no arguing Morgan is out-streaming everybody in the world by double or something. It’s insane,” Combs acknowledged. “The numbers are insane. It’s either him or Taylor Swift at the top [of the Billboard Artist 100], and it’s like I’m number four. It’s crazy.”

Wallen will continue his One Night At A Time Tour in 2024, while Combs will embark on his Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old Tour.