This week’s Christian chart is a story of change and no change. While the top of the chart stayed virtually intact, there was a massive shift at the bottom, including a former number one that dropped off and another that is likely a week away from leaving.
Once again, Phil Wickham’s “Battle Belongs” narrowly edged out Crowder’s “Good God Almighty” to keep the No. 1 spot for the eighth straight week. The difference between the two was even closer than last week, as Crowder’s latest single is within a half-percent of Wickham. The remainder of the Top 5 – Zach Williams’ “Less Like Me,” tobyMac’s “Help Is On the Way (Maybe Midnight)” and MercyMe’s “Say I Won’t” – also stayed the same.
The entire Top 20 was almost unmoving, as 19 of the songs moved between one spot up and one spot down. The lone exception was Cory Asbury’s “Sparrows,” which dropped from No. 15 all the way down to No. 33. This huge drop was mirrored by other Top 40 stalwarts that appear ready to move off of the chart soon: Elevation Rhythm’s “Quiet,” on the chart for nine weeks, fell 10 spots from No. 24 to No. 34; Matthew West’s “Truth Be Told,” on the chart for 16 weeks, also fell 10 spots from No. 30 to No. 40; and Elevation Worship’s “Graves Into Gardens,” which had been the chart for 15 weeks, an which had held the No. 1 spot for five weeks, went from No. 27 to being uncharted.
Five songs made significant moves of four or more spots this week, led by Elevation Worship and Maverick City Worship’s “Jireh,” which leaped 11 spots from No. 37 to No. 26. The other big movers were Riley Clemmons’ “Keep On Hoping” (up four from No. 26 to No.22), Cains’ “Yes He Can” (up eight from No. 31 to No. 23), Big Daddy Weave’s “All Things New” (up nine from No. 36 to No. 27) and Unspoken’s “Help Is On the Way” (up four from No. 35 to No. 31).
Four songs made their debut this week, paced by “Be Alright,” a collaboration between Evan Craft, Danny Gokey and Redimi2 that entered at No. 25. Anne Wilson broke into the chart at No. 35 with “My Jesus.” Branan Murphy entered at No. 38 with “This World Is Not My Home.” And The Belonging Co. debuted at No. 39 with “Every Victory.”
Here is the updated chart for the week of May 2, 2021. Each song is linked to its official video on YouTube, where possible. To listen to the full playlist of these songs, visit our page on Spotify.
| Pos | Song | Artist | LW | Chg | Wks | Peak |
| 1 | Battle Belongs | Phil Wickham | 1 | 0 | 16 | 1 |
| 2 | Good God Almighty | Crowder | 2 | 0 | 16 | 2 |
| 3 | Less Like Me | Zach Williams | 3 | 0 | 16 | 3 |
| 4 | Help Is On the Way (Maybe Midnight) | tobyMac | 4 | 0 | 11 | 4 |
| 5 | Say I Won’t | MercyMe | 5 | 0 | 16 | 5 |
| 6 | Amen | For KING & Country | 7 | 1 | 13 | 6 |
| 7 | Hold On to Me | Lauren Daigle | 6 | -1 | 8 | 6 |
| 8 | Out of My Hands | Jeremy Camp | 8 | 0 | 16 | 2 |
| 9 | Jericho | Andrew Ripp | 9 | 0 | 16 | 1 |
| 10 | Fires | Jordan St. Cyr | 10 | 0 | 16 | 8 |
| 11 | Next to Me | Jordan Feliz | 11 | 0 | 15 | 11 |
| 12 | Child of Love | We The Kingdom | 12 | 0 | 10 | 12 |
| 13 | New Day | Danny Gokey | 13 | 0 | 15 | 10 |
| 14 | Gospel Song | Rhett Walker | 14 | 0 | 6 | 14 |
| 15 | God Who Listens | Chris Tomlin & Thomas Rhett | 16 | 1 | 11 | 15 |
| 16 | No Hopeless Soul | Stephen Stanley | 17 | 1 | 11 | 16 |
| 17 | When We Fall Apart | Ryan Stevenson | 18 | 1 | 9 | 17 |
| 18 | Believe For It | CeCe Winans | 19 | 1 | 7 | 18 |
| 19 | Survival | Needtobreathe | 22 | 3 | 6 | 19 |
| 20 | God of Revival | Bethel Music | 20 | 0 | 7 | 20 |
| 21 | New Today | Micah Tyler | 21 | 0 | 14 | 17 |
| 22 | Keep On Hoping | Riley Clemmons | 26 | 4 | 3 | 22 |
| 23 | Yes He Can | Cain | 31 | 8 | 2 | 23 |
| 24 | Mean Girls | Leanna Crawford | 23 | -1 | 5 | 23 |
| 25 | Be Alright | Evan Craft/ Danny Gokey/ Redimi2 | New | New | 1 | 25 |
| 26 | Jireh | Elevation Worship & Maverick City Music | 37 | 11 | 4 | 26 |
| 27 | All Things New | Big Daddy Weave | 36 | 9 | 3 | 27 |
| 28 | Run to the Father | Matt Maher | 29 | 1 | 12 | 20 |
| 29 | Promise Keeper | Hope Darst | 25 | -4 | 10 | 25 |
| 30 | Faithful God | I AM THEY | 28 | -2 | 14 | 21 |
| 31 | Help Is On the Way | Unspoken | 35 | 4 | 6 | 31 |
| 32 | Without You | Social Club Misfits | 33 | 1 | 9 | 31 |
| 33 | Sparrows | Cory Asbury | 15 | -18 | 16 | 7 |
| 34 | Quiet | Elevation Rhythm | 24 | -10 | 9 | 24 |
| 35 | My Jesus | Anne Wilson | New | New | 1 | 35 |
| 36 | Talking to Jesus | Elevation Worship & Maverick City Music | 32 | -4 | 2 | 32 |
| 37 | Echo Holy | Red Rocks Worship | 39 | 2 | 5 | 37 |
| 38 | This World Is Not My Home | Branan Murphy | New | New | 1 | 38 |
| 39 | Every Victory | The Belonging Co. | New | New | 1 | 39 |
| 40 | Truth Be Told | Matthew West | 30 | -10 | 16 | 1 |
This week, there are 19 songs that appear poised to debut on the chart in the near future. Songs that were on this list previously are marked with asterisks – one for each week the song has been on the list. (You can listen to them in our “On the Side Burner” playlist on Spotify):
| On the Side Burner | |
| (Songs that haven’t appeared in our chart but were closest to making it this week) | |
| Song | Artist |
| Rattle!*** | Elevation Worship |
| Joyful | Dante Bowe |
| Gratitude**** | Brandon Lake |
| Rest On Us* | Maverick City Music |
| Come Back Home**** | Peter Martin |
| Reign Above It All*** | Bethel Music |
| The God Who Fights For Me*** | Zoe Worship |
| Move Your Heart**** | Maverick City Music |
| Jesus Happened* | Baylor Wilson |
| House of the Lord*** | Phil Wickham |
| Wait On You | Elevation Worship & Maverick City Music |
| Ways**** | Sean Curran |
| Reasons | Hulvey |
| Made to Fly | Colton Dixon |
| Goodness of God* | CeCe Winans |
| Somebody | Zoe Worship |
| Look What You’ve Done* | Tasha Layton |
| Holy Water**** | We The Kingdom |
| How Great Thou Art | Carrie Underwood |
The American charts all have their whims. We look across the Christian music landscape to put together a reliable snapshot of what is truly trending today. We are currently tracking 114 songs that have trended in various ways in the past week.
Copyright © 2021 Doug DeBolt.
