Christian/Gospel
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Micah Tyler banks his first No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian Airplay chart as “I See Grace” ascends to the summit in its 31st week on the survey.
In the tracking week ending March 9, the song increased by 7% to 7.5 million audience impressions, according to Luminate.
Tyler co-penned “Grace” with Zach Kale and Matthew West. It was produced by AJ Pruis.
Born Micah Tyler Begnaud, the 39-year-old singer-songwriter hails from Buna, Texas, and is now based in Nashville.
“Grace” became Tyler’s sixth Christian Airplay top 10. It follows “Walking Free,” which peaked at No. 6 in March 2022. His rookie entry, “Never Been a Moment,” hit No. 2 in April 2017, followed by “Different” (No. 6, December 2017); “Even Then” (No. 3, February 2019); and “Amen” (No. 2, June 2020).
Tyler has also charted on Christian Airplay with “Feels Like Joy” (No. 11, December 2020) and “New Today” (No. 15, March 2021).
Tyler is currently on the road with MercyMe on the band’s Always Only Jesus Tour, which also includes TAYA (who is part of the collective Hillsong United). Their next stops are in Cleveland (March 16) and Green Bay, Wis. (March 17).
Crowder and Dante Bowe’s “God Really Loves Us,” featuring Maverick City Music, rises to No. 1 on Billboard’s streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Gospel Songs chart dated March 18.
On Hot Christian Songs, it climbs to No. 9, reaching the top 10 for the first time.
Crowder, aka singer-songwriter David Crowder, and Bowe co-wrote the single with Ben Glover and Jeff Sojka.
The song, which is being promoted to Christian radio by Capitol Christian Music Group, climbs 6-4 for a new high on the Christian Airplay chart. It increased by 9% to 6.9 million audience impressions in the week ending March 9, according to Luminate. It also drew 692,000 streams and sold 1,000 downloads in the United States in that span.
Crowder reaches the Hot Gospel Songs summit with his first entry on the chart. Bowe, a member of Christian and gospel collectives Bethel Music and Maverick City Music, notches his second leader with solo billing, while Maverick City Music scores its fifth chart-topper.
On Hot Christian Songs, the track gives Crowder his ninth top 10, Bowe his third and Maverick City Music its fifth.
The collaboration is the latest in a growing number of team-ups among Christian and gospel artists, with two other notable hits involving Maverick City Music, which leans more toward gospel than Christian. On Christian Airplay, the act and Kirk Franklin’s “Fear Is Not My Future,” featuring Brandon Lake, ranks at No. 26 (1.2 million impressions, up 5%). Gospel music star Franklin boasts nine No. 1s among 14 top 10s on Gospel Airplay. Lake, predominately a Christian singer-songwriter, has achieved two Christian Airplay leaders.
Plus, Maverick City Music and Christian music collective Elevation Worship united for “Jireh,” also featuring Chandler Moore and Naomi Raine. The song topped Gospel Airplay for two frames in March 2022, after it reached No. 41 on Christian Airplay in August 2021 (before a version without Elevation Worship hit No. 5 last July).
Kirk Franklin makes history as he spends a landmark 100th week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Gospel Songwriters chart (dated March 11).
The artist becomes the first person to reach the 100-week milestone on a songwriters chart. Billboard launched its Hot 100 Songwriters and Hot 100 Producers charts, as well as genre-specific rankings for country, rock & alternative, R&B/hip-hop, R&B, rap, Latin, Christian, gospel and dance/electronic in June 2019. (Alternative and hard rock joined in 2020, along with seasonal holiday rankings in 2022.)
“As a songwriter, there are few things more gratifying than seeing your work connect with people on a deep level,” Franklin tells Billboard. “To have my music resonate with so many for 100 weeks is truly a humbling experience. I am grateful beyond words to those that love my music for their support and to everyone who has played a part in bringing my music to life.”
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Franklin extends his record run atop Gospel Songwriters thanks to three songwriting credits on the latest Hot Gospel Songs chart. He’s also credited as a recording artist and producer on all three tracks. Here’s a recap:
Rank. Artist Billing, Title (co-songwriters in addition to Franklin)
No. 4, Maverick City Music X Kirk Franklin feat. Brandon Lake & Chandler Moore, “Fear Is Not My Future” (Brandon Lake, Jonathan Jay, Hannah Shackleford, Nicole Hannel)
No. 7, Maverick City Music X Kirk Franklin feat. Naomi Raine & Chandler Moore, “Kingdom” (Chandler Moore, Jonathan Jay, Jacob Poole)
No. 9, Maverick City Music X Kirk Franklin, “Bless Me”
The only act to spend at least 100 weeks atop a producers chart is Tainy, who has amassed 119 weeks at No. 1 on Latin Producers, thanks to his work on hits by J Balvin and Bad Bunny, among others.
Franklin has been hugely successful on Billboard’s gospel charts. He holds the record for the most Hot Gospel Songs No. 1s (eight) and has the second-most top five hits (15), top 10s (20) and overall entries (36) in the chart’s 18-year history. He’s also tied for the most No. 1s on Gospel Airplay (nine, with Tamela Mann) and holds the record for the most career entries at the format (25, also over the list’s 18 years).
Franklin’s “Wanna Be Happy?” spent 45 weeks at No. 1 on Hot Gospel Songs in 2015-16, making it the third-longest-leading hit in the chart’s archives, while his “Love Theory” spent 44 weeks on top, the fourth-longest reign. His eight leaders on Hot Gospel Songs have spent a combined 144 weeks at No. 1, the most among all acts.
Franklin has also earned 13 No. 1 albums on the Top Gospel Albums chart, the most among all acts since he first led the chart in December 1993, with Kirk Franklin And The Family. On the all-genre Billboard 200, he’s charted 14 albums, including five top 10s.
Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman banks his third No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian AC Airplay chart as “Don’t Lose Heart” tops the list dated March 11.
In the tracking week ending March 2, the song increased by 5% in plays, according to Luminate.
Chapman wrote “Heart,” which marks his third Christian AC Airplay No. 1 among 15 top 10s, with Bryan Fowler and Micah Kuiper.
On the Christian Airplay chart, “Heart” ranks at No. 5 (6.5 million in audience), after reaching No. 3.
The Franklin, Tenn.-based Chapman, originally from Paducah, Ky., scores his first Christian AC Airplay leader since “Christmas Time Again” dominated for three weeks beginning in December 2012. His first No. 1, “Do Everything,” led for a week in October 2011.
“Heart” follows Chapman’s feature on CAIN’s “Wonderful,” which reached No. 3 in January 2022.
Chapman first reached the Christian AC Airplay top 10 with “How Do I Love Her,” which peaked at No. 7 in August 2003. Chapman, who has been producing hits since the late-1980s, logged many before Billboard’s Christian Airplay and AC Airplay charts began in June 2003.
“Heart” is from Chapman’s album Still, which entered Top Christian Albums at its No. 4 peak last October, awarding him his 21st top 10. He made his first of 27 appearances in 1987 with Real Life Conversation, which peaked at No. 19. He followed with his first top 10, More to Life (No. 2, May 1990). His first of nine No. 1s, For the Sake of the Call, reigned for two weeks in March 1991. He most recently led in November 2009 when Beauty Will Rise arrived at the summit.
Currently on tour, Chapman, 60, makes his next stop March 15 in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Gospel music luminaries David and Tamela Mann, as well as Dr. Bobby Jones will be honored during the upcoming 22nd annual Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards on March 30.
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The event, to be held at Flourish Atlanta, will be hosted by BMI president/CEO Mike O’Neill and BMI vice president, Creative Catherine Brewton.
“BMI is thrilled to be back in Atlanta celebrating the best in Gospel music,” said Brewton via a statement. “We’re extremely proud to honor powerhouse couple Tamela and David Mann for their incredible contributions to the Gospel community, the enduring legacy of Dr. Bobby Jones and the songwriters and publishers behind the top Gospel songs of the previous year. Through song and praise, they deliver inspirational messages of hope, faith and goodwill to music lovers around the world. We feel truly blessed to bring these trailblazers together in fellowship and celebrate their creative works.”
In the 1990s, Tamela and David toured the world as part of the gospel group Kirk Franklin and the Family, before launching solo careers and joint ventures, creating Tillymann Entertainment in 2005 as a base for their various entertainment projects. In 2018, they released Us Against the World, their first collaborative album as a duo. A companion book to the album earned the couple a NAACP Image Award for outstanding literary work, while the album launched the hit “Ups & Downs.” The Manns also launched the Overcomer Family Tour, with their son David Jr. and their daughters La’Tia and Tiffany.
Beyond music, the Manns have appeared in several Tyler Perry plays, films and movies, and starred in their own sitcom, Mann & Wife, and the docuseries It’s a Mann’s World. As a solo artist, Tamela has issued six studio albums and earned a Grammy, BET Award, Billboard Music Award and multiple NAACP, GMA Dove and Stellar Gospel Music awards.
Singer, television host and radio broadcaster Jones will be honored for his more than four decades in entertainment. For more than 35 years, he served as the host of Bobby Jones Gospel on BET, and is credited with giving artists including Yolanda Adams, Kirk Franklin and Mary Mary their first national television exposure. In 1984, Jones earned a Grammy for best soul gospel performance by a duo or group for “I’m So Glad I’m Standing Here Today” with Barbara Mandrell. He has also received recognition from the GMA Dove Awards, and the Stellar Awards, and was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame earlier this year.
Throughout the ceremony, BMI will also recognize the songwriters, producers and music publishers of the past year’s 25 most performed gospel songs in the United States. The BMI gospel song, songwriter and publisher of the year will also be named during the event.
Singer-songwriter Brandon Lake scores his second No. 1, and first as a lead artist, on Billboard’s streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Christian Songs chart (dated Feb. 4) with “Gratitude.”
The single rebounds for a third week atop Christian Digital Song Sales, up 7% to 2,000 downloads sold Jan. 20-26, according to Luminate. It also drew 1.9 million official U.S streams. On Christian Airplay, the song pushes 13-11 for a new best (4.9 million audience impressions, up 24%).
Lake co-authored “Gratitude” with Dante Bowe and Benjamin Hastings, while Jacob Sooter produced it.
“Every song has a season, and season a song,” Lake tells Billboard. “’Gratitude’ couldn’t more accurately describe everything I want to express to God in this time. There are times where I feel like worshipping and there are times I often don’t, but what can shift any weary soul is a spirit of gratitude. I love that this song not only expresses a heartfelt ‘thank you,’ but commands your soul to wake up and worship. The journey of how this song came to be is a miracle in itself that I’m thankful for.”
Lake previously topped Hot Christian Songs as featured on Elevation Worship’s “Graves Into Gardens,” for two frames in February 2021. It also paced Christian Airplay for a week, awarding Lake his lone leader so far.
Concurrently, Lake charts two additional tracks on Hot Christian Songs. He’s featured on Ryan Ellis’ “Son of David,” at No. 25, and his duet with KB, “Graves,” at No. 44.
Tribbett’s ‘New’ No. 1
On Gospel Airplay, Tye Tribbett notches his fourth No. 1 and third in succession with “New,” which he wrote solely.
The song follows ‘’Anyhow,” which dominated for two weeks in June 2021, and “We Gon’ Be Alright,” which led for a week in September 2020. Tribbett, who hails from Camden, N.J., notched his first leader, among nine top 10s, with “Victory” (with backing group G.A.), which reigned for three weeks beginning in September 2006.
MercyMe Extends Record
MercyMe rolls up its record-padding 19th No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian AC Airplay survey with “Then Christ Came” (up 3% in plays).
The format cornerstone act last led with “Almost Home,” for three frames in April 2020. In between that song and “Then,” the group’s “Say I Won’t” reached No. 3 in May 2021 and “On Our Way,” featuring Sam Wesley, hit No. 9 in February 2022.
MercyMe widens its lead for the most No. 1s since Christian AC Airplay began in 2003 over Jeremy Camp and Casting Crowns, each with 13.
MercyMe banked its first leader with “Word of God Speak,” which dominated for 21 weeks starting in August 2003. It’s the longest-leading No. 1 in the chart’s history, followed by the band’s own “Even If,” which ruled for 19 weeks starting in May 2017.
Elevation Worship earns its second No. 1 on Billboard’s streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Christian Songs chart and its third leader on Christian Airplay as “Same God” ascends to the top of both lists dated Jan. 21.
The song increased by 10% to 8 million audience impressions among Christian Airplay reporters in the Jan. 6-12 tracking week, according to Luminate. It also drew 1.5 million U.S. streams and sold 1,000 downloads.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based collective previously ruled Christian Airplay with “Rattle!” for a week in September 2021 (as it also hit No. 4 on Hot Christian Songs), and “Graves Into Gardens,” featuring Brandon Lake. The latter also topped both charts at once, on the tallies dated Feb. 6, 2021. It dominated Hot Christian Songs for two frames, while pacing Christian Airplay for a week.
Elevation Worship now sports two of the three select instances in which a track has dominated both charts simultaneously. Prior to “Same God” and “Gardens,” Mandisa first achieved the feat in September 2013 when “Overcomer” spent its first of 10 weeks atop Hot Christian Songs and its first of 12 frames in the Christian Airplay penthouse.
Notably, the act has released a studio version and a live version of “Same God,” the latter of which credits Jonsal Barrientes, a member of the group, in a featured role. Chris Brown, Elevation Worship frontman, sings lead vocals on the studio mix. (Both renditions contribute to the song’s singular chart listing.)
Brown co-wrote the track with Pat Barrett, Steven Furtick and Brandon Lake.
An aunt and an ally. Amy Grant shut down trolls criticizing her decision to host her LGBTQ+ niece’s wedding on Monday (Jan. 16).
“I never chase any of those rabbits down the rabbit hole,” the Christian pop singer said to People of outcry from homophobic critics on social media. “I love my family, I love those brides. They’re wonderful, our family is better, and you should be able to be who you are with your family, and be loved by them.”
Grant also revealed that her niece’s nuptials took place at the very same place she and Vince Gill were married back in 2000. “I own a farm that I bought back in the ’90s and they were just looking for a beautiful place to get married,” she said. “So, she and Sam got married on the same hillside where Vince and I got married.”
“Honestly, from a faith perspective, I do always say, ‘Jesus, you just narrowed it down to two things: love God and love each other,’” Grant added in a Washington Post interview back in November to explain her perspective on balancing her well-documented faith with her support of the LGBTQ+ community. “I mean, hey — that’s pretty simple.”
This weekend, Grant — who received Kennedy Center Honors in 2022 — opened the long-awaited Los Angeles concert honoring A&M Records co-founder Jerry Moss, performing her now-classic 1991 ballad “I Will Remember You” before Peter Frampton, Rita Coolidge, David Foster, Herb Alpert, Dionne Warwick and Sting each took the stage.
“That was a wild 36 hours in Santa Barbara,” singer-songwriter and Contemporary Christian Music hitmaker Blessing Offor tells Billboard, recalling how a meeting with five-time Grammy winner Jon Batiste in November 2022 at the Google Zeitgeist Conference led to an impromptu writing session.
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“It felt like meeting an old friend kind of thing, just immediately cool,” Offor says. “He asked what we were doing that afternoon, and if we wanted to do a session in L.A. My flight was supposed to leave that afternoon, but I was like, ‘Absolutely.’ I immediately called my travel guy and was like, ‘Do whatever you have to do to move my flight,’” he says, laughing. “It was just a great creative synergy. I’m not sure what will come of it, but I would love to collaborate again.”
Collaboration has played a key role in Offor’s career to date.
Offor, who earned a GMA Dove Awards nomination for new artist of the year in 2022, also registered a three-week No. 1 Christian Airplay hit in 2022 with his TobyMac collaboration “The Goodness” and has been featured on albums from Chris Tomlin and Lee Brice. He’s also co-written songs with Dallas Davidson, Breland, Tyler Hubbard and Corey Crowder, among others. Offor’s own “Brighter Days,” the title track from his February 2022 EP, peaked at No. 2 on Christian Airplay.
On Friday, the Nigerian-born, Connecticut-raised artist will release his new full-length set, My Tribe, on Bowyer & Bow/Capitol CMG.
Offor, who co-wrote 14 of My Tribe’s 16 tracks, begins the album with a spoken-word intro that thanks his family still living in Nigeria for their support. Later in the album, he includes “What a World (Akwa Uwa),” which incorporates a song he learned as a child.
“Towards the end of the album-making process, we had all the tracks done, but it felt like something was missing,” Offor says. “What was missing was a little fingerprint of Nigeria, of my own journey. When I said I wanted to put that on my record, my team was very supportive, though I think we joked about how hard it would be to find whoever owns publishing on a song recorded in Nigeria in the ‘70s.”
Offor was surprised by the success of “Brighter Days,” which he also includes on his new full-length project.
“We didn’t send ‘Brighter Days’ to radio thinking we have a massive song on our hands, because it doesn’t even say ‘Jesus,’” Offor says. “In this industry, it’s easier to market things that are crystal clear, I guess. I’ve gotten many a Facebook message, Instagram message from people asking, ‘How dare you call yourself a Christian artist? You didn’t say “Jesus” one time in this song.’ It’s been super interesting. I’m a theological nerd, so could I argue about it? Yes. But is it worth it? No, probably not. But because it didn’t fit neatly in one particular box, it’s gotten to a lot of places in the world where most songs that fit so tightly into that box probably don’t get.”
Alongside uptempo, retro-pop bops like “Feel Good” and “My Tribe” are soulful piano ballads like “Grace” and “Won’t Be Long Now,” which Offor calls “a mantra.”
“I love songs like that, that massive groups can sing, songs that we need to get through specific moments — songs like, ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy,’” he says of “Won’t Be Long Now,” which he wrote with Hank Bentley and Jessie Early. “During the ‘60s, in the Civil Rights movement, people would say, ‘How long?’ and the answer was ‘Not long.’ That didn’t mean literally two seconds from right now, but the fact that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. The song is just a mantra to hold on through whatever someone might be going through.”
A Journey From Nigeria to Nashville
The album is filled with a blend of pop and soul and a constant uplifting message flowing throughout it — a testament to his own hard-fought journey.
Offor, who is legally blind, immigrated to the United States from Nigeria at age 6. He was born with glaucoma resulting in almost complete blindness in his left eye. and his parents sent him to live with his uncle in America to receive treatment. Then at age 11, a water gun accident damaged his retina, taking the sight from his right eye.
Growing up in Connecticut, Offor, the youngest of six siblings, listened to a range of music, including pop, Motown and jazz, and began playing piano at age 9. Still, he says it took commitment and passion to stick with his unconventional career path in music, especially when his family expected him to take a more professional path.
“For me, to be a singer-songwriter was not cool, you know? My uncle has a law firm and for me, going to law school would have been a glide path and then I could be a lawyer and that would really be the immigrant dream there,” he says. “Nobody would have been mad if I quit to do some white-collar career, but I didn’t give myself permission to quit.”
He attended Nashville’s Belmont University and then spent five years in New York’s eclectic music scene around 2011, “just writing music and meeting people, working with the Snarky Puppy guys before they became Snarky Puppy,” he says. He made his way to Los Angeles and was briefly a contestant on The Voice, before returning to Nashville in 2015, where he continued to showcase for labels and write songs.
After writing a song titled “Tin Roof” with Natalie Hemby, Offor saw the song recorded by a few artists and hoped it would lead to a publishing deal. The song did more than that — soon after, CCM luminary Chris Tomlin heard the song and recorded it for his 2020 Chris Tomlin & Friends album, featuring Offor’s vocals on the recording. Offor also signed a recording deal with CCM luminary Chris Tomlin’s Bowyer & Bow imprint, in partnership with Universal’s Capitol Christian Music Group.
“After the song came out, there was the conversation of a longer-term relationship with Chris and Capitol CMG. I said, ‘You know being a worship leader is not my goal, per se. I’m a Christian who is an artist, but I always write music my own way.’ Chris said, ‘All you have to do is be yourself,’ and I said, ‘Well, I can do that.’ [Capitol CMG co-president] Brad O’Donnell and all the guys at Capitol felt there can be a place for my music in the faith market, but also in the faith-adjacent markets and mainstream markets. And so far, it’s been as good as it sounded from the beginning, which is a really rare thing.”
For Offor, finding his label home meant heeding the advice he was once given by a Nashville music executive.
“It’s funny because I would do showcases in Los Angeles and they would be like, ‘Cool, you can be the next John Legend.’ But John Legend’s still doing his thing; we don’t need a next John Legend. I’d showcase for country labels and it’s like, ‘OK, we can do a soul-country thing,’ so there was always this idea of doing a hybrid.” Former Universal Music exec Joe Fisher gave advice that resonated with Offor: “He gave me the example of Chris Stapleton — when he first came to town, he was too soulful for country and too blues for soul. Joe said, ‘You want to get a deal where people are comfortable letting you find who you are. It might take a minute, but once you build your own genre, no one can kick you out of it.’”
Francesca Battistelli scores her sixth No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian Airplay chart as her holiday single “Carolin’” jingles to the top of the Dec. 31-dated tally.
The song increased by 4% to 1.7 million audience impressions Dec. 16-22, according to Luminate. (As previously reported, this week marks a switch to a Friday-through-Thursday tracking schedule for Billboard’s individual-format airplay charts.)
Battistelli, who is based in Columbia, Tenn., co-penned “Carolin’” with Mia Fields and Seth Mosley.
“What a fun Christmas present to hear that ‘Carolin’’ is connecting with people like this,” Battistelli told Billboard after hearing the news of her latest coronation. “It’s a special song for me for several reasons. I wrote it with two of my favorite writer friends; singing carols is one of my favorite things about Christmas; and, last but certainly not least, my sweet daughter Audrey sang background vocals with me on it! I am humbled and honored that this song is being enjoyed by so many people.”
Battistelli tops Christian Airplay for the first time since “Messiah” led for a week in January 2018. In between that leader and “Carolin’” (her 13th top 10 as well as her sixth No. 1), her “The Breakup Song” hit No. 9 in November 2018, followed by “Defender” (No. 12, November 2019), “This Could Change Everything” (No. 25, August 2020), “Behold Him” (No. 12, December 2020), “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (No. 36, last holiday season) and “God Is Good” (No. 25, this March).
Battistelli first reached Christian Airplay with “I’m Letting Go,” which rose to No. 3 in July 2008. She first led the list with “Free to Be Me” for four weeks in April-May 2009.