Winter Jam Crowned Top First Quarter Music Tour

Landing at #2 on Pollstar's newly published "2018 1Q YTD Worldwide Ticket Sales Top 100 Tours" chart, the Winter Jam 2018 Tour Spectacular takes the top spot of all music tours on the chart. Following the #1 tour "Disney On Ice," Winter Jam ranks ahead of first quarter tours by such superstars as Bruno Mars and Blake Shelton. 

Christian music's largest annual tour, Winter Jam hit 46 cities across the country from January through March, boasting a total of 17 sold-out shows, including capacity crowds at Philips Arena in Atlanta; St. Louis' Scottrade Center; and Kansas City's Sprint Center, among other leading venues. 
 
This year's Winter Jam Tour Spectacular was headlined by Platinum-selling and Billboard Music Award-winning rockers Skillet and showcased Kari Jobe (featuring Cody Carnes); Building 429; popular comedian John Crist; KB; tour creators and hosts, NewSong; Dove Award-winning chart-topper Jordan Feliz.

Hollyn joined Winter Jam for a 12-date stint in March, along with a variety of one-night-only special guests--this year including Los Angeles Angels' Albert Pujols;  Matthew West; Grammy-winning Francesca Battistelli; and ESPN analyst and former NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck and his wife, former FOX News anchor Elisabeth Hasselbeck, among others. 

Lecrae Performs on Good Morning America

Lecrae performs his hit single “All I Need Is You” on Good Morning America as part of his Anomaly Tour.

This past fall, Grammy-award winning hip-hop artist Lecrae released his seventh studio album, Anomaly to critical acclaim. The album officially debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart as well as several other Billboard charts including, Digital Album, Rap Album, Christian Album and Gospel Album.

Since his album’s debut, Lecrae has performed on The Tonight Show twice, performed around the country with Andy Mineo on his official Anomaly Tour and most recently, received three Grammy nominations including Best Rap Performance (Drake, Eminem, Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar and Lecrae) – On Sunday, Feb. 8., he won his second Grammy award (Best Contemporary Christian Song/Performance) in the past three years.




The album features guest artists Andy Mineo, Kari Jobe, for King and Country and Crystal Nicole. Impressively the album’s single “All I Need Is You” debuted at #1 on the iTunes Hip-Hop chart and predicted the eventual success of Anomaly.

Lecrae, known for his music message that is often at odds with his hip-hop peers, speaks of monogamy, contentment, and faith. While remaining true to his beliefs, Lecrae has managed to garner critical media buzz, release chart-topping albums and mixtapes, co-headline the highest ticketed tour in the country, draw several Grammy nominations and has already won two Grammy awards.

Lecrae has been praised by mainstream and hip-hop press alike with features in Time Magazine, The Atlantic, Huffington Post, Entertainment Weekly, XXL, Essence Magazine, Billboard and Vibe Magazine, among others. Radio personality and MTV News Executive Producer Sway Calloway recently proclaimed Lecrae’s music as the “Evolution of Hip-Hop.”

“The Greatest Night in the History of Contemporary Christian Music”

The “We Will Stand” event is being billed as “The Greatest Night in the History of Contemporary Christian Music” and will be broadcast online live Wednesday, January 21, starting at 6pm CST at live.ccmunited.com. It will also be recorded and released as a DVD and companion CD.

“We Will Stand” features 28 artists including Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Point of Grace, Petra, Steven Curtis Chapman, Russ Taff and many more together with today’s CCM top artists including Francesca Battistelli and Kari Jobe for an evening of hit songs and performances that have changed countless lives for four decades. 

Lecrae To Battle Eminem and Drake for Best Rap Grammy

Three Grammy nominations cap a break-out year for critically-acclaimed rapper Lecrae. He joins his contemporaries Drake, Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar and Eminem as a nominee in the hip-hop category Best Rap Performance ("All I Need Is You"). He's also nominated for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song ("Messengers") and as a featured artist on Erica Campbell's hit record "Help" for Best Gospel Performance/Song.

On Sept. 9th, Grammy-award winning Lecrae released his seventh studio album, Anomaly to critical praise. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart as well as several other Billboard charts.

The album features guest artists Andy Mineo, Kari Jobe, for King and Country and Crystal Nicole.

Lecrae, known for his music message that is often at odds with his hip-hop peers, speaks of monogamy, contentment, and faith. While remaining true to his beliefs, Lecrae has previously managed to garner critical media buzz, release chart-topping albums and mixtapes, headline the highest ticketed tour in the country, draw a Grammy nomination and win a Grammy award for Best Gospel Album. These additional three nominations now gives Lecrae the distinction of four total Grammy nominations spanning his career.

Lecrae has been praised by mainstream and hip-hop press alike with features in Time Magazine, The Atlantic, Entertainment Weekly, XXL, Essence Magazine, Billboard and Vibe Magazine, among others. Radio personality and MTV News Executive Producer Sway Calloway recently proclaimed Lecrae's music as the "Evolution of Hip-Hop."

Lecrae recently completed the U.S. portion of his self-titled "Anomaly" tour, performed with The Roots on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and appeared live on ESPN's nationally televised program SportsNation. He will be releasing his next music video for the fan favorite song "Say I Won't," featuring Andy Mineo, this Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014 in a one-of-a-kind fan event during halftime of the Brooklyn Nets/Miami Heat game at the Barclay's Arena in Brooklyn, N.Y. Lecrae and featured guest artist Andy Mineo will be on hand at the game to deliver the premiere. T-shirts and free song download cards will be distributed to fans. One lucky contest winner will join Lecrae and Andy Mineo in the Sony Suite to enjoy the game and the video premiere. This event is sponsored by Sony Action Cam.

Kari Jobe's Majestic Chart Positions

Last week Kari Jobe released her third label project Majestic to rave reviews and fan response. This all new live album debuted at No. 4 on the Overall Digital Album chart and earned Jobe her second Billboard Top 200 Top 15 debut at No. 12.  It also debuted at No. 1 on three Billboard charts including the Christian Contemporary Album, Praise & Worship and Christian Digital Album charts.

Kari Jobe Song Performed on American Idol by Top 6 Contestant Angie Miller

Last night on American Idol, one of the Top 6 contestants, Angie Miller, chose a Kari Jobe song to perform as her "Song I wish I had written" selection. Miller's performance of "Love Came Down" from Jobe's 2012 release Where I Find You resulted in a standing ovation from the crowd and all four judges. Her performance evoked responses from Keith Urban and Mariah Carey, and garnered a heartfelt response from Jobe as well. 

"I have watched American Idol for 12 years, and it was so much fun to have 'Love Came Down' from my album, Where I Find You on there this week," shared Jobe after watching the performance. "I met Angie a year ago and was blown away by her talent and love for Jesus! Excited for her!"
Miller also shared on Twitter last night to Jobe, "I watched you perform 'Love Came Down' quite some time ago and fell in love with it. Thank you for inspiring me so much! Love you!"

Following Miller's performance last night, Jobe's song quickly climbed to the top of the iTunes Christian & Gospel singles chart, and the album is currently at No. 6 on the iTunes Christian album chart.



Wednesday night, Top 6 American Idol contestant Angie Miller sang chart-topping CCM artist Kari Jobe's song "Love Came Down" and received a standing ovation from both the crowd and the judges.