Can Third Day topple Needtobreathe off the top of the Billboard Hot Christian Singles chart? Will we see a new #1 on the AC charts, where Jeremy Camp has had a foothold since we can remember? What new songs are going to make splashes at Christian radio? All that after the jump.
Billboard Hot Christian Songs Top 10 (as of June 7, 2008)
1. Washed by the Water (1) Need to Breathe
7. Call My Name (3) Third Day
4. Every Man (2) Casting Crowns
5. Love Is Here (6) Tenth Avenue North
2. Let It Fade (4) Jeremy Camp
6. All Because of Jesus (7) Fee
3. You Are Everything (5) Matthew West
8. Your Grace is Enough (9) Matt Maher
9. Cinderella (8) Steven Curtis Chapman
10. God With Us (10) MercyMe
Third Day inches even closer to its nth #1 hit with Call My Name, even as Needtobreathe holds on to the #1 slot with Washed by the Water. It’s the band’s third week at #1. Everything else seems pretty stable after Matt Maher pushed DecembeRadio out of the Top 10; this week, there are no new entries into the chart’s upper echelon.
Christian AC, meanwhile, is even more stable:
1. Let It Fade (1) Jeremy Camp
2. All Because of Jesus (2) Fee
3. Every Man (4) Casting Crowns
4. Your Grace is Enough (6) Matt Maher
5. Call My Name (5) Third Day
6. Washed by the Water (7) Needtobreathe
7. Love is Here (8) Tenth Avenue North
8. You Are Everything (3) Matthew West
9. Cinderella (9) Steven Curtis Chapman
10. Song of Hope (7) Robbie Seay Band
Matt Maher’s Your Grace is Enough is the only active song to increase substantially, as if a two-notch jump from 6-4 is a substantial jump, but for this chart, it is. Maher is the original songwriter of Your Grace is Enough, which has become a bit of an anthem for CCM superstar Chris Tomlin. (Situation kinda reminds me of Brenton Brown’s Everlasting God, which was a bigger hit for Lincoln Brewster.)
Here are three songs I’m recommending for your AC consideration; this week, we feature two CCM superstar acts and one act bidding to become one.
1. Heal the Wound by Point of Grace. Christian music’s most venerable girl group shows why it’s still out there and contending with the best of ’em. Heal the Wound is a solid ballad in the tradition of its You Are Not Alone Inspo juggernauts. A worthy contender for Inspo chart-topping success, although PoG will admittedly find it more difficult to do this time around, given how radio has changed significantly since its debut in the early 90s.
2. Stay Strong by Newsboys. Newsboys, however, seem to be fully set on chart domination. The carrier single of their greatest hits collection, Stay Strong is a dominant sing-along anthem. Peter Furler delivers his strongest vocal in years, and this encouraging song may very well be this year’s Love Liberty Disco for the 30something set, who will relate to the song’s theme more than most young’uns.
3. Peace Be Still by Rush of Fools. After a massive – MASSIVE. – debut with Undo, Christian pop/rock group Rush of Fools may be hard-pressed to deliver the goods on their sophomore outing, Wonder of the World. Peace Be Still is not Undo, and it’s not even the carrier single – that honor is reserved for the title track – but if the leaked airplay onto Inspo charts is any indication of the band’s popularity, then these guys’ll be around for years to come.
