State Champ Radio Christian/Gospel
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Big Daddy Weave rolls up its seventh No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian AC Airplay chart, as “Heaven Changes Everything” ascends to the top of the tally dated Sept. 9.
The song increased by 4% in plays in the week ending Aug. 31, according to Luminate.
The track is an homage to Jay Weaver, the band’s former bassist from its inception in Mobile, Ala., in 1998. He passed away in January 2022 at age 42 from health complications due to COVID-19.
Big Daddy Weave frontman Mike Weaver (Jay’s older brother) wrote “Heaven Changes Everything” with Jeff Pardo and Matthew West.
“This song hitting No. 1 means so much to us, especially in light of my brother Jay going home,” Mike Weaver tells Billboard. “The stories that we hear from people who have heard this song and have gone through something like this have ministered to us and have given purpose to the pain we’ve been going through.”
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In addition to Mike Weaver, Big Daddy Weave is comprised of Brian Beihl, Jeremy Redmon and Joe Shirk.
Big Daddy Weave first topped Christian AC Airplay with “Every Time I Breathe” for three weeks beginning in June 2007. It had most recently reigned with “Alive” for three frames in August 2019.
On the Christian Airplay chart, “Heaven Changes Everything” ranks at No. 3, after reaching No. 2, with 5.8 million audience impressions (up 2%). Big Daddy Weave has notched seven No. 1s among 21 top 10s on the survey.
“Heaven Changes Everything” follows Big Daddy Weave’s collaboration with Katy Nichole, “God Is in This Story,” which led Christian Airplay for two weeks and reached No. 2 on Christian AC Airplay in late 2022.
Big Daddy Weave’s Heaven Changes Everything Tour is set to start Sept. 20 in Meadville, Penn., and wrap Nov. 5 in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Hannah Kerr and Tasha Layton will serve as supporting acts.
Gospel music star Kirk Franklin lands his 10th leader on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart as “All Things” ascends to No. 1 on the survey dated Sept. 2. In the Aug. 18-24 tracking week, the song increased by 7% in plays, according to Luminate. With the coronation, Franklin ties Tamela Mann for the most Gospel Airplay […]
Singer-songwriter Phil Wickham scores his fourth No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart, as I Believe rockets in atop the Sept. 2-dated tally.
The 14-song set, released Aug. 18, earned 7,000 equivalent album units, with 3,000 in album sales, in its first week (ending Aug. 24), according to Luminate.
The LP was produced by Jonathan Smith.
“Wow, I am absolutely floored by all the love and support for this album,” Wickham tells Billboard. “This is wild. I felt called when I started writing this record to create songs that feel fresh, but at the core get back to the basics of who we are to God, and who He is to us. Thanks to everyone for listening!”
For the 39-year-old San Diego-based Wickham, I Believe marks his fourth Top Christian Albums leader, and his third to open at the summit. His last No. 1, Hymn of Heaven, arrived in the penthouse in July 2021. The set followed his prior leaders Living Hope, in August 2018, and Sing Along 3 with Kari Jobe, Shane & Shane and Jeremy Riddle in May 2015.
The new collection is also Wickham’s ninth Top Christian Albums top 10, a run that began with his self-titled first entry, which hit No. 8 in May 2006.
Meanwhile, “This Is Our God,” the lead single from I Believe, climbs 6-2 for a new high on the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Christian Songs chart. It drew 1.8 million official U.S. streams, up 33%, during the tracking week. The song, which Wickham solely wrote, led Christian Airplay for two weeks starting in June, becoming his fourth No. 1.
Nearly a decade after earning a 10-week No. 1 run atop Billboard’s Christian Airplay chart with “This Is Amazing Grace,” California native and worship leader Phil Wickham has been enjoying a solid run of radio hits over the past few years.
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In 2021, he had two multi-week chart toppers, with “House of the Lord” and “Battle Belongs” each spending four weeks at the chart’s pinnacle. This year he returned to the Christian Airplay chart’s pole position for two weeks with “This Is Our God,” from his forthcoming 10th studio album, I Believe, out Friday (Aug. 18 on Fair Trade/Columbia).
He recently made a strong showing when the GMA Dove Awards nominations were announced, earning four nominations including the coveted artist of the year category, as well as a song of the year nod for his role in writing the Casting Crowns hit “Then Christ Came,” and a worship song of the year nod for “This Is Our God.”
“It’s an honor,” says Wickham, who last year picked up two GMA Dove Awards trophies. “It’s just God’s grace. It feels like God taking some loaves and fishes and multiplying it to a place where someone would say, ‘This is worth recognizing,’ which is crazy.”
Wickham has become a standout in a new generation of worship leaders in the Contemporary Christian Music space, though his roots in the genre are familial and deep, as the son of members of the 1970s Christian band Parable.
“There’s a service and a thoughtfulness to the listener in worship music,” he says. “I’m not writing this just to share my story. I’m writing in a way that this is everybody’s story, and to give them a new prayer to sing back to God, this is something for us to do together.”
I Believe finds Wickham delving deeper into songwriting and collaboration, alongside his frequent collaborator Jonathan Smith, who is the sole producer on the entire project — an increasing rarity these days.
“It was such a partnership, from choosing songs to getting hyped about the vision for the album,” Wickham says. “We worked on the album on and off for over a year. He wrote on ‘I Believe,’ ‘Sunday is Coming’ and ‘The Jesus Way. I’m kind of sporadic when it comes to making albums and I want to hear every option before I decide on something, musically, which is a producer’s worst nightmare, in a lot of ways. But I love working with him so much because he’s the same way—he wants all the options in front of him.”
Nearly two years ago, Wickham, Smith and others visited the Charlotte, North Carolina campus of the multi-site megachurch Elevation Church, known for the hit worship ensemble Elevation Worship. Wickham and company met for a two-day writing retreat with fellow singer-songwriter Brandon Lake and Elevation Worship pastor/songwriter Steven Furtick. They made the most of the short duration, writing for over 12 hours each day.
“I don’t think we even left to eat,” he says. Numerous songs on the 14-track album came from those sessions, including “This Is Our God,” “Praise the Lord,” and “Relationship.”
“Steven is a writer on so many songs that have just blanketed church music across the world. He understands how to dig deeper to find new ways of phrasing things. But a lot of the songs end up coming from an initial seed of an idea that I have. I just don’t want to go into a session and be like, ‘Gimme your best ideas.’ Like with ‘The Jesus Way,’ I had all the verses and the chorus and was like, ‘I need a bridge.’”
“The Jesus Way” originated in 2020, as a poem that would come to serve as both reminder and self-challenge to live his life with love, grace and forgiveness. “Jesus met people where they are at. He met the poor, visited with sick people that no one else wanted to be around,” Wickham says. “For years, I thought the poem was just for me, but earlier this year, I just felt like people should hear it.
He was so moved by the song’s challenge that he hesitated to record it. “I was reading the lyrics and realizing how far I was from that being the reality of my life,” Wickham says. “I can be selfish and quick to be impatient with people. I’ll think, ‘God’s been so gracious to me and I’m not showing grace right now.’ I hesitated to record it because it’s like, I know how much I fall short of it. But it was written and it felt right, but it was a three-year process to write that song.”
As collaborative in the recording process as he is the writing room, Wickham features two women performers on the album: Tiffany Hudson on “Psalm 23” and Naomi Raine on “Holy Moment.” “Psalm 23” takes the biblical chapter and sets it to music and melody and originated from a plan for a project that would incorporate as many phrases directly from the Psalms as possible.
“I thought it would be fun to put out a Psalms project, making the music feel non-traditional and more singer-songwriter, moodier. I wrote like four or five Psalms, and the project just didn’t happen.” Wickham later came across some of his old voice memos and realized the song would make a perfect fit for his project, a moment of “beauty, and sincerity and sweetness,” he says, “and I knew Tiffany’s voice would sound perfect.”
His collaboration with Naomi Raine on “Holy Moment” came by way of an inspired moment, after the two musicians had been on the same tour. “I wanted another moment on the album where you hear more than just my voice and I thought if I could have anyone on the album, it would be Naomi,” he says.
He didn’t even have a song written at the time he asked her to record with him, but when they looked at their calendars, by happenstance, they both had the same evening open in Nashville (“It was crazy because neither of us are from Nashville,” said Wickham, who still resides in California).
They set up shop in a studio and a conversation about holiness evolved into singing and Wickham estimates they had the song written within an hour or so. “We had no title for it, we didn’t know what we would end up creating, but it became such a song in itself, a holy moment in the studio, we had to call it ‘Holy Moment.’” Wickham says.
Wickham, who is repped by WME, is incorporating several of the album’s songs while on the road on his recently-launched Summer Worship Nights Tour, co-headlined by Lake, with KB offering direct support. Wickham and Lake met years ago, when a mutual friend recommended Lake’s music to Wickham. The two began co-writing together and formed a fast friendship. They now share the same management home, Breit Group.
“We share a lot of the same team members and we wanted to go on the road together and throw a praise party, with as many people as possible,” Wickham says.
In its 29th week on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart (dated Aug. 12), Jovonta Patton’s first entry, “Always,” ascends to No. 1. In the tracking week ending Aug. 3, the single increased by 18% in plays, according to Luminate.
Patton, who is based in Minneapolis, solo-authored “Always.”
“As an independent artist, the internet has been a blessing to me in the music industry,” says Patton, referencing his reach on TikTok. “‘Always’ is a personal monumental milestone for me. The pandemic put the world in a state of the unknown. So, instead of using fear, I decided to use prayer. I wrote this song to trust God to heal and provide for me, and the song’s impact has overwhelmed me, how it has connected through radio.”
Previously, Patton notched two No. 1s on the Gospel Digital Song Sales chart, both of which debuted at the summit. “Way Maker” ruled in February 2018 and “Worth It,” with his daughters Ella and Zoe, led in October 2020. He also boasts two No. 1s on Top Gospel Albums: Finally Living (2016) and EP Sanctuary (2019).
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Meanwhile, “Always” marks an act’s third initial entry to top Gospel Airplay in 2023. In July, Otis Kemp’s “Daily Bread” reigned for two frames, after Marcus Jordan’s “Call on the Name” led for a week in February.
Quaid’s New Act
Actor Dennis Quaid, who played a quarterback in director Oliver Stone’s 1999 hit film Any Given Sunday, then a pitcher in the 2002 baseball drama The Rookie among many other popular roles, makes his opening pitch on Top Christian Albums.
Released July 28, Quaid’s Christian and country LP Fallen: A Gospel Record for Sinners arrives at No. 15 with 2,000 equivalent album units earned in its first week.
The 12-song set was co-produced by Quaid, who wrote five of the songs solo. It’s not his first foray into music, as he has been performing, writing and recording for many years.
The Houston native, 69 (and younger brother of fellow actor Randy Quaid), also debuts on the Emerging Artists chart at No. 29.
Lauren Daigle’s “Thank God I Do” ascends to No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian Airplay and Christian AC Airplay rankings dated July 29, as she scores a fivefold chart domination not achieved since her own “You Say” over four years ago.
“Thank God I Do” drew 6.2 million audience impressions July 14-20, according to Luminate.
Daigle earns her fifth No. 1 on Christian Airplay and her sixth on Christian AC Airplay.
The song is the lead single from Daigle’s self-titled LP, which arrived at No. 1 on the Top Christian Albums chart in May, giving the Lake Charles, La., native her fourth leader. The 10-song set will expand by 10 tracks later this year.
Daigle wrote “Thank God I Do” with Jason Ingram, with Jeffrey Bhasker, P!nk (Alecia Moore) and Nate Ruess also receiving writing credit, as the song contains elements of P!nk’s “Just Give Me a Reason,” featuring Ruess (which the three co-penned), a three-week No. 1 on the all-genre multimetric Billboard Hot 100 in 2013.
“Wow, just wow,” Daigle says of her latest chart coronations. “It has been absolutely incredible seeing how people have connected to ‘Thank God I Do,’ and receiving the news that it has reached No. 1 at radio is so special. It means more than words to see the continued support and enthusiasm for this new music, which is so close to my heart.”
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Meanwhile, “Thank God I Do” rules the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Christian Songs survey for an 11th frame, after becoming her sixth No. 1 in May. The hit retains the penthouse bolstered by 2.6 million official U.S. streams (up 2%) and 2,000 sold. It tops Christian Digital Song Sales for a 17th week and Christian Streaming Songs for an eighth week.
The only other title to rule Hot Christian Songs, Christian Airplay, Christian AC Airplay, Christian Streaming Songs and Christian Digital Song Sales simultaneously in the nearly 10 years that the five lists have coexisted? Daigle’s crossover smash “You Say,” which did so for 11 weeks in 2018-19.
On Christian Airplay, “Thank God I Do” is Daigle’s first chart-topper since “You Say” dominated for 17 weeks beginning in September 2018. She logged four top 10s in between: “Look Up Child” (No. 6 peak, April 2019); “Rescue” (No. 4, November 2019); “Still Rolling Stones” (No. 5, July 2020); and “Hold On to Me” (No. 3, July 2021).
Daigle’s 18 Christian Airplay chart-entries include 14 top 10s. Her first of five leaders was the aptly titled “First,” which reigned for three weeks starting in October 2015.
“You Say” is Daigle’s longest-leading Christian AC Airplay No. 1, with 15 weeks on top.
Among women, Daigle’s five Christian Airplay No. 1s place her second, behind Francesca Battistelli with six. On Christian AC Airplay, Daigle’s six No. 1s are the most among women, with Battistelli and Mandisa tied for second with four each. (Both charts began in June 2003.)
Kierra Sheard’s “Miracles” featuring Pastor Mike Jr. rises to No. 1 on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart (dated July 22). In the July 7-13 tracking week, the song increased by 16% in plays, according to Luminate.
“Miracles” marks the fifth Gospel Airplay No. 1 for both Sheard and Pastor Mike Jr. (real name Mike McClure Jr.).
Sheard wrote the song with her brother J. Drew Sheard II and Marcus Johnson. It’s the first single from her LP due later this year. Its content relates to a series of miscarriages that Sheard endured. She is currently pregnant, expecting her first child with husband Jordan Kelly.
“I’m a walking miracle, and I’m sure we all have some kind of miraculous story of God moving in our lives,” Sheard tells Billboard. “It’s only right for these lyrics to be our anthem and I’m grateful that so many are listening.”
“Miracles is more than a song,” adds Pastor Mike Jr. “Kierra and I really wanted to inject the world with hope, and we’re seeing so many lives changed with this positive message.”
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With “Miracles,” Pastor Mike Jr. adds his record-extending fifth consecutive career-opening No. 1 on Gospel Airplay. It follows “Impossible” featuring James Fortune (a two-week leader in April); “Amazing,” (two weeks, May 2022); “I Got It” (four weeks, beginning in March 2021); and “Big Rock City” (10 weeks, beginning in February 2020).
Pastor Mike Jr. also ties for the longest streak of Gospel Airplay No. 1s overall, regardless of career-launching runs, with Todd Dulaney and Jonathan McReynolds. All three acts’ streaks are active, with Dulaney currently charting a potential sixth leader in a row, as “It’s Working,” with Bishop Hezekiah Walker, climbs 22-21 for a new high.
Sheard, the daughter of Karen Clark Sheard of The Clark Sisters, tops Gospel Airplay for the first time since “Something Has To Break,” featuring her mother, led for two weeks in October 2021.
Before that, Kierra Sheard’s solo song “It Keeps Happening” dominated for a week in September 2020. In April 2017, GEI’s “Hang On,” on which she’s featured, dominated for a week, after Mary Mary’s “God in Me,” featuring Sheard, ruled for seven weeks beginning in August 2009.
Sheard has an additional song on the latest Gospel Airplay survey, as “God Is Good,” with her mother, Stanley Brown and Hezekiah Walker, ranks at No. 27 (up 2% in plays).
TobyMac’s “Cornerstone” featuring Zach Williams rises to No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian Airplay chart (dated July 15). The song drew 6.7 million audience impressions in the week ending July 6, according to Luminate. It’s the former’s 12th No. 1 on the survey and the latter’s fifth. TobyMac (real name Toby McKeehan) co-authored the hit with […]
Elevation Worship, the music collective based in Charlotte, N.C., earns its seventh No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart as its new set, Can You Imagine?, blasts in atop the June 3-dated tally.
Released May 19, the LP earned 8,000 equivalent album units through May 25, according to Luminate.
“We’re blown away by the response to our new album and how it’s pointing people to Jesus,” Chris Brown, the group’s frontman, tells Billboard. “It’s reminding us that He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine in and through our lives.”
Concurrently, the album’s “More Than Able,” featuring Chandler Moore and Tiffany Hudson, surges 5-1 on the multimetric Hot Gospel Songs chart. On Hot Christian Songs, it flies 21-7. It drew 2 million official streams (up 102%).
“Able” gives Elevation Worship its fourth No. 1 on Hot Gospel Songs and its 12th top 10 on Hot Christian Songs.
For Moore, who is also a member of Maverick City Music, it’s his third No. 1 on Hot Gospel Songs. On Hot Christian Songs, it marks his third top 10.
Hudson, a member of Elevation Worship, earns her first leader and top 10 as a billed artist on the lists, respectively.
“Able” was penned by Ben Fielding, Steven Furtick, Chandler Moore and Naomi Raine.
Can You Imagine?, which includes eight tracks, was produced by Brown and Furtick. The LP was recorded in front of a live audience at Elevation Church in Charlotte Jan. 13.
The new set follows Elevation Worship’s Live at the Loft, which arrived at its No. 24 peak on Top Christian Albums in September 2022, and Lion, which started at its No. 2 best that March. Before that, Elevation Worship’s collaboration with Maverick City Music, Old Church Basement, arrived atop the Top Christian Albums and Top Gospel Albums chart in May 2021. It dominated the former for five weeks and the latter for 17 frames.
Tasha Cobbs Leonard rolls up her sixth leader, and fourth in succession, on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart (dated May 27), as “The Moment” hops from No. 4 to No. 1.
In the tracking week ending May 19, the single increased by 5% in plays, according to Luminate.
Cobbs Leonard co-authored “The Moment” with Deon Kipping. It was produced by her husband, Kenneth Leonard Jr.
“God just keeps blowing my mind,” Cobbs Leonard tells Billboard. “I appreciate everyone at radio who supported ‘The Moment,’ and I’m grateful for everyone’s love and support down through the years. Like the song says, ‘It can happen right now!’”
“The Moment” follows Cobbs Leonard’s “Gotta Believe,” which reigned for a week in March 2022. Before that, “In Spite of Me” led for a week in June 2021 and “You Know My Name (Live),” dominated for one frame in October 2019.
The singer-songwriter previously topped Gospel Airplay with her debut hit, “Break Every Chain,” for seven weeks starting in June 2013, and added her second No. 1 as featured on Kirk Franklin’s “My World Needs You” (also featuring Sarah Reeves and Tamela Mann), a two-week leader in July 2017.
With six No. 1s on Gospel Airplay, which launched in March 2005, Cobbs Leonard ties four other artists for the fourth-best total: Jekalyn Carr, Todd Dulaney, Charles Jenkins & Fellowship Chicago and Marvin Sapp. Tamela Mann leads all acts with 10 chart-toppers, followed by Kirk Franklin (nine) and James Fortune & FIYA (eight).
Plus, Cobbs Leonard and Tamela Mann each have four straight Gospel Airplay No. 1s, the longest active streaks among female artists. Dulaney and Jonathan McReynolds have the longest active streaks, and in the chart’s history, among all acts, with five each. Dulaney is looking to extend his run with “It’s Working” (with Hezekiah Walker), up 28-27 for a new high on the latest list.
