JFH News: Hillsong United's "Wonder" Debuts No. 1 on Billboard Christian Chart

HILLSONG UNITED'S "WONDER" DEBUTS AT NO.1 ON BILLBOARD AND iTUNES BECOMING THE HIGHEST AUDIO STREAMED RECORD EVER IN CHRISTIAN MUSIC HISTORY DURING STREET WEEK

With Over 4.4 Million Streams, Hillsong UNITED Continues to
Build Momentum With Sixth Studio Album That Billboard
Declares "Works Wonders"

NEWS SOURCE: Rogers & Cowan
June 27, 2017

LOS ANGELES (June 27, 2017)— With over two million albums sold and 700 million career streams to date, multi-platinum-selling Hillsong UNITED continues to establish itself as one of the most influential artists in the history of contemporary Christian music topping multiple charts this week with its highly-anticipated sixth studio project, “WONDER.”

The album debuted at #1 on both iTunes (#5 overall) and Billboard’s Top Christian/Gospel Albums and Contemporary Christian charts while taking the #1 position on multiple Soundscan retail charts including Praise & Worship, Gospel Christian Retail (both overall & current), Christian/Gospel Mainstream Retail (both overall & current) and Christian/Gospel Physical and Digital Retail (both overall & current). In addition to its top placements, “WONDER” landed at #21 on the Billboard Top 200 and #4 on the Billboards Digital Albums chart, taking the #9 spot on Billboard’s Top Current Albums and the #10 position on Billboard’s Top Albums charts. The title track single also maintains momentum at Christian radio, climbing the charts (currently #18 on the Christian Radio Airplay chart) and impacting key networks nationwide with continued adds including K-LOVE, Air1, KLTY, SiriusXM and more.

With an incredible response from both fans and gatekeepers, “WONDER” was the highest audio streamed album in Christian music history on street week with more than 4.4 million streams. For the first time ever in the Christian genre, every song from the project debuted on the Top 100 On-Demand Audio chart, with 8 of its 12 songs charting in the Top 20. Hillsong UNITED’s custom lyric videos for “WONDER” also resonated with fans, garnering an unprecedented 1.1 million YouTube views in just one week since going live.

In a review for “WONDER” Billboard said, “Hillsong UNITED’s New Album Works Wonders,” adding that it “has an optimistic, upbeat feel, both lyrically and sonically.”

When asked what he hopes fans will get out of this project, frontman for the band Joel Houston told Billboard, “Hope is an interesting word. We believe there is hope in the world, amidst all of the devastation. But as for our album— we always just try and enjoy and trust the process, make music we like and hopefully other people do as well... It is the dream of any artist that their music reaches new listeners, that the story or message goes out and impacts more and more people.”

The group is currently on the road in support of “WONDER,” performing at local venues and making select press stops, including their recent appearance on The TODAY Show. For more on Hillsong UNITED visit www.hillsong.com/UNITED/ or @hillsongunited on all social platforms.

About Hillsong UNITED: ?

Hillsong UNITED is a multi-award-winning, platinum-selling artist whose chart successes (repeatedly no. 1 on Billboard’s Christian charts and up to #5 on Billboard 200) are only bested by the millions of lives they’ve impacted across the globe. Reporting over 50 million people singing from a catalogue of UNITED songs every Sunday, the modest band born from a youth ministry out of Hillsong Church in Australia, touts a reach of over 9 million across all major social network platforms to date. Comprised of an evolving, eclectic mix of musicians and songwriters, the band is led by Joel Houston and Taya Smith, names that have become synonymous with Christian radio, dominating airwaves with every new release. Their last four studio albums have each topped the USA Christian chart, with “Zion” and “Empires” charting no. 1 (Zion recently also went Gold in the US); and “Oceans,” written by Houston and band member Matt Crocker recently went double platinum in the States, counting 200+ million streams and reigning on top of the Christian songs chart for a record 54 weeks. In studio, on tour or at home, Hillsong UNITED is committed to writing songs that speak truth, create a unique sound and connects people everywhere with God, evident by the success they’ve seen globally. With over 42 countries and six continents and counting, Hillsong UNITED continues to sell out arenas and stadiums around the world, including sold-out nights at the Forum, STAPLES Center and The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, the Bridgestone Arena, American Airlines Arena, and the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC to scratch the surface. Hillsong UNITED profoundly functions from the deep understanding that everything they do is an expression of a really extraordinary God doing what only He can do, through really ordinary people.

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For more info on Hillsong UNITED, visit the JFH Artists Database.