Gospel Music Makes Billboard History!
September 17, 2012.
By Hasan James
Over the last two weeks, albums from both TobyMac and Lecrae have broken through the glass ceiling for Gospel/Christian music.
TobyMac gets his first chart-topper with “Eye On It,” as it bows with 69,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan. It simultaneously debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian Albums chart. This is only the third time in history that a Christian album has debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. LeAnn Rimes, “You Light Up My Life” and Bob Carlisle’s “Butterfly Kisses” are the only other Christian albums to debut at #1.
Gospel Hip-Hop artist Lecrae also made history with his latest project “Gravity” debuting at #3 on Billboard’s Top 200 chart, selling an astounding 72,000 copies in it’s first week. Lecrae also debuted at #1 on both the Billboard Gospel and Christian album charts.
I must say that it is a great feeling to see Christian and Gospel artists outselling popular acts like Trey Songz, Justin Beiber and 2 Chainz!
Let’s continue to pray that God music continues to reach the masses and that one day it will become mainstream music.
