Elevation Worship Is the Year’s Top Christian Artist for the First Time
Written by djfrosty on December 13, 2024
In 2024, Elevation Worship, the music collective based in Charlotte, N.C., leads Billboard’s Top Christian Artists in the overall year-end recap. The group also rules as the leading duo/group of 2024.
Elevation Worship’s eight-song album, Can You Imagine?, is Billboard’s No. 1 Top Christian Albums title of 2024. The set, which spent 14 weeks at No. 1 during the 2024 eligibility period (charts dated Oct. 28, 2023, through Oct. 19, 2024), has remained in the top five on the weekly ranking for most of the chart year.
The week that the album arrived at the summit, group frontman Chris Brown told Billboard: “We’re blown away by the response to our new album and how it’s pointing people to Jesus,” he said. “It’s reminding us that He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine in and through our lives.”
Explore All of Billboard’s 2024 Year-End Charts
Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts from Oct. 28, 2023, through Oct. 19, 2024. Rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology detail, and the October-October time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate
Additionally, Elevation Worship’s “Praise” featuring Brandon Lake, Chris Brown and Chandler Moore leads multiple major year-end song charts: the multimetric Hot Christian Songs, along with the radio rankings Christian Airplay Songs and Christian AC Airplay Songs, and even Christian Streaming Songs.
“Praise” hit No. 1 on the weekly Hot Christian Songs chart in March and became the act’s third chart-topper among 15 top 10s. It was the first leader for Brown, Lake’s third of five and Moore’s first. It spent 31 weeks at No. 1 on Hot Christian Songs during the 2024 chart year.
Meanwhile Singer-songwriter Brandon Lake, who is featured on “Praise,” leads Billboard’s Top Christian Artists – Male roundup. Lake, who hails from Dallas, is No. 2 on the overall Top Christian Artists recap.
Lake’s 2023 hit “Gratitude,” which led Hot Christian Songs for 13 weeks during the 2024 chart year, finishes at No. 6 on the year-end Hot Christian Songs recap. The singer-songwriter banked two additional Hot Christian Songs No. 1s: “Praise You Anywhere” rang up six weeks in the penthouse starting in November 2023, and “That’s Who I Praise” became his fifth leader in the final week of the 2024 chart year (Oct. 19, 2024).
Lake notched his first No. 1 on Top Christian Albums with Coat of Many Colors which debuted atop the Nov. 4, 2023 dated tally. The 16-song Colors ranks at No. 5 on the year-end roundup. The 34-year-old from Charleston, S.C., also posts the No. 14 album of 2024, House of Miracles. It peaked at No. 6 on the weekly Top Christian Albums chart in June of 2023, but continued to have a sustained chart run into the 2024 eligibility period.
Billboard’s Top Christian Artists — Female of 2024 is Lauren Daigle, who was 2023’s overall Top Christian Artist. She finishes fourth in the latter category this year. The singer-songwriter who hails from Lafayette, La., has the No. 6 spot on the 2024 top albums survey with her 2023 self-titled album.
Daigle released the initial 10-song self-titled album with the promise that the deluxe version with 10 more tracks would come later. The LP paired the 33-year-old Daigle with new producer Mike Elizondo and was her first through Atlantic Records, which her longtime label, Centricity, formed a partnership in early 2023.
The first version of the LP entered at the summit on May 27, 2023, returning to the apex that September with the deluxe version, which added 13 tracks to the original release. It led on Sept. 23, 2023, with 13,000 units and has remained on Top Christian Albums throughout 2024.
Meanwhile Daigle’s earlier albums remain extremely popular. Her third of four No. 1 sets, Look Up Child from 2018, is No. 3 on the Top Christian Albums year-end ranking.
The No. 2 female of the year (and No. 5 overall) is Anne Wilson. She is notable as her music is being promoted to both Christian and country radio (by Capitol Christian and Capitol Nashville, respectively). The two-sided promotion between these two genres is still not all that common. While she has not impacted Country Airplay yet, her single “Strong,” hit No. 3 on Christian Airplay and No. 2 on Christian AC. Wilson has earned five top 10s on each of the lists to date.
Queen Is ‘New’ King
At No. 1 on the 2024 year-end Top New Christian Artists ranking is Josiah Queen. He concurrently cracks the top 10 on the overall Top Christian Artists list, coming in at No. 9.
His independently released debut set, The Prodigal, opened atop Top Christian Albums in June. Queen’s rookie single, the album’s title track, reached No. 4 on Hot Christian Songs in May becoming his first top 10. The 21-year-old from Tampa, Fla. initially accumulated traction by posting videos on TikTok, where he has more than 100,000 followers.
Speaking of artists who springboard from social media, Forrest Frank, who was 2023’s Top New Christian Artist, is No. 3 among all acts this year. Frank’s “Good Day” is the No. 2-ranked Hot Christian Songs title of 2024. “Good” reached No. 2 on the weekly version of the list in March, becoming his first of three top 10s. His duet with Connor Price, “Up!”, peaked at No. 8 in April, while “Never Get Used to This,” with JVKE, climbed to No. 6 in August.