For King & Country Adds Second Top Christian Albums No. 1 With ‘What Are We Waiting For?’
Plus, Elevation Worship & Maverick City Music's "Jireh" crowns Gospel Airplay.
for King & Country, the duo of brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone, nabs its second No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Christian Albums chart, as What Are We Waiting For? opens with 32,000 equivalent album units (28,000 in album sales) in its first week, ending March 17, according to Luminate, formerly MRC Data.
The set follows the duo’s Burn the Ships, which anchored atop the tally in October 2018.
The new album concurrently debuts at No. 7 on the all-genre Billboard 200, the pair’s second top 10, after Burn the Ships also hit No. 7.
“Our intent with this album was to invite listeners into a hope-filled future by way of [its] global, family and spiritual themes,” the pair told Billboard in a joint statement. “To have fans of our music in America, and around the world, respond to these sentiments has been meaningful unlike any release we’ve been a part of to date. Using words like ‘humbled’ and ‘grateful’ doesn’t quite say it … but, for lack of better terminology, we’re deeply humbled and grateful.”
With its latest Top Christian Albums leader, the act also earns its seventh top 10 in as many appearances. Debut album Crave peaked at No. 4 in 2012, followed by Into the Silent Night: The EP (No. 5, 2013); Run Wild. Live Free. Love Strong. (No. 2, 2014); Christmas: Live From Phoenix (No. 5, 2017); and, after Burn the Ships, six-track EP A Drummer Boy Christmas (No. 2, 2020).
for King & Country co-produced the entire 13-track What Are We Waiting For?, incorporating six producers among its tracklist. Meanwhile, collaborating artists on the LP include Dante Bowe, Kirk Franklin, Tori Kelly and Sleeping at Last.
What Are We Waiting For? has produced two singles so far: “Relate” led Christian Airplay for three weeks beginning last December, marking the act’s 10th No. 1, and the airplay-, streaming- and sales-based Hot Christian Songs list for three weeks this February, becoming the duo’s first leader. New single “For God Is With Us” hits new highs on Christian Airplay (19-14), surging by 49% to 3.9 million impressions, and Hot Christian Songs (29-19).
‘JIREH’ RULES RADIO “Jireh,” by Elevation Worship and Maverick City Music, featuring Chandler Moore and Naomi Rain (both of whom are members of Maverick City Music), ascends 2-1 on Gospel Airplay. In the week ending March 20, it gained by 16% in plays.
The song marks the first leader for the Atlanta-based Maverick City Music and the Charlotte, N.C.-based Elevation Worship, as well as for Moore and Rain under their own names.
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