Sarah Grace & Lauren Daigle Debut in Hot Christian Songs Chart’s Top 10
Competing for Kelly Clarkson's team, 16-year-old Houston native Sarah Grace turned in a bluesy performance of the classic hymn "Amazing Grace," which included a demonstration of her trumpet skills…
Competing for Kelly Clarkson’s team on NBC’s The Voice, 16-year-old Houston native Sarah Grace turned in a bluesy performance of the classic hymn “Amazing Grace,” which included a demonstration of her trumpet skills, for her top 10 performance on the Dec. 3 episode.
Grace’s version, in the vein of The Animals’ 1964 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “House of the Rising Sun,” arrives at No. 4 on Billboard‘s streaming-, airplay- and sales based Hot Christian Songs chart (dated Dec. 15). Fueled by sales of 10,000 downloads in the week ending Dec. 6, according to Nielsen Music, “Grace” flies in at No. 2 on Christian Digital Song Sales. The song marks Grace’s first on any surveys.
Grace is the second competitor from The Voice that has scored chart success with “Amazing Grace” in the past year. On the Hot Christian Songs tally dated Dec. 23, 2017, Brooke Simpson’s version opened atop the list. Simpson, who finished in third place on The Voice last year, added her second of her two Hot Christian Songs No. 1s on the Jan. 3, 2018-dated survey with her take on “O Holy Night.”
Lauren Daigle collects her 11th Hot Christian Songs top 10, as her version of “The Christmas Song” jingles in at No. 7. With 2.6 million U.S. clicks, it makes a No. 2 entrance on Christian Streaming Songs, awarding Daigle her sixth top 10. That sum includes one No. 1 so far: “You Say,” which rules Hot Christian Songs and Christian Streaming Songs and for a 21st and 19th week, respectively.
Now with 11 Hot Christian Songs top 10s, Daigle ties Francesca Battistelli and Mandisa for the most among solo females. Among all artists, Chris Tomlin leads with 27.
Daigle, who hails from Lafayette, Louisiana, put her New Orleans jazz influences into her version of “The Christmas Song.” Written by Robert Wells and Mel Torme, the carol was initially recorded in 1946 by The King Cole Trio, which featured the legendary Nat King Cole on lead vocals; his version, which first reached the Hot 100 in 1960, hits a new peak on the latest, Dec. 15-dated chart, jumping 39-29, up 34 percent to 17.1 million U.S. streams.
Plus, MercyMe banks its 25th Christian Airplay top 10 as “Best News Ever” hops 14-9, increasing by 6 percent to 3.3 million in audience. The song is the third single from the group’s album Lifer and follows “Grace Got You” and “Even If,” which topped Christian Airplay for five and eight weeks, respectively, earlier this year and became the group’s 14th and 15th No. 1s, among its 25 top 10s.
MercyMe ties Casting Crowns, also with 25, for the most Christian Airplay top 10s among duos or groups. Among all artists, they rank behind only Tomlin, with 27.
More From Pro
