For the first time in 11 years, two songs are charting simultaneously on Billboard’s Hot 100 and Christian charts.
Brandon Lake’s worship anthem “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” which has been on the Hot 100 now for 11 weeks, currently sits at No. 44, while Forrest Frank’s upbeat “Your Way’s Better” jumped from No. 72 to No. 62 in its second week. It’s a rare charting event.
Since Billboard revamped its Hot Christian Songs methodology in 2013 to factor in streaming, radio airplay and digital sales, only 11 songs have crossed over from the Christian charts onto the mainstream Hot 100. That list includes hits like Lauren Daigle’s “You Say,” Hillsong United’s “Oceans” and NF’s “Let You Down.”
(We’re excluding holiday tracks or mainstream aberrations, like Kanye West’s gospel experiment.)
Even more notably, this is the first time since 2014 that two Christian songs have charted on the Hot 100 at the same time and shown real staying power. Back then, Carrie Underwood’s “Something in the Water” and Craig Wayne Boyd’s “The Old Rugged Cross” briefly overlapped — but the latter dropped off after a single week. In contrast, “Hard Fought Hallelujah” has proven its endurance, and “Your Way’s Better” is still climbing.
With Elevation Worship’s “Praise” and Frank’s “Good Day” also hovering just below the Hot 100 on Billboard’s Bubbling Under chart, we could be looking at a full-on wave of Christian music crashing into mainstream spaces in the coming weeks.
