Carrie Underwood notches her second No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart, which is powered by streaming, airplay and sales data, as “My Favorite Time of Year” bumps from No. 2 to the top of the list dated Dec. 12.
“Favorite” was released Nov. 13 as an Amazon Music exclusive and is a bonus track on the service on Underwood’s new holiday album My Gift.
In the tracking week ending Dec. 3, the song surged by 65% to 7.4 million U.S. streams, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. It’s also one of the songs that she performed on My Gift: A Special From Carrie Underwood, which began streaming on HBO Max Dec. 3.
“Favorite,” which Underwood wrote with Chris DeStefano and Hillary Lindsey, is Underwood’s second Hot Christian Songs leader, after “Something in the Water” debuted at the summit in October 2014 and reigned for 26 weeks.
Plus, Underwood claims Nos. 2 and 3 on Hot Christian Songs. Her version of the traditional classic “Silent Night” pushes 4-2 and “Hallelujah,” with John Legend (which he co-wrote), holds at No. 3.
“Silent Night” corralled 5.5 million U.S. streams (up 59%) and sold 1,000 downloads (up 15%) in the tracking week, while “Hallelujah” attracted 4.1 million clicks (up 54%) and sold 3,000.
Underwood now boasts six Hot Christian Songs top 10s, while “Hallelujah” is Legend’s first entry on the chart. A staple of her home country genre, Underwood has landed 14 No. 1s, among 27 top 10s, on Hot Country Songs, dating to her chart arrival in 2005 after she won that year’s edition of American Idol.
In controlling the Hot Christian Songs top three, Underwood becomes just the second artist to earn such a triple since the chart launched in June 2003 (as an all-airplay ranking; it converted to its current multi-metric methodology in October 2012). The other act to achieve the feat also crossed over, from hip-hop: Kanye West dominated the entire top 10 on the ranking dated Nov. 9, 2019. That week, West’s first faith-based album, Jesus Is King, opened atop Top Christian Albums, Top Gospel Albums and the all-genre Billboard 200 (with 264,000 equivalent album units).
The same frame, West became the first artist to also dominate the entire top 10 on the Hot Gospel Songs chart.
Underwood’s My Gift, which includes 11 songs in its standard edition (the Amazon exclusive sports 12 with “Favorite”), debuted atop the Top Christian Albums and Top Country Albums charts dated Oct. 10 with 43,000 units. The set leads the former for a 10th week and rises 3-1 for a second week atop the latter, up 26% to 44,000 units, its best week yet. The LP is her first on Top Christian Albums and her eighth, all of which have reigned, making for a record career-opening streak, on Top Country Albums.
(In crowning Hot Christian Songs, “Favorite” dethrones Lauren Daigle’s crossover smash “You Say,” which has amassed a record 113 weeks at No. 1. The latter is currently off the ranking, due to chart rules regarding its would-be rank and age, but will be eligible to return after the holidays.)
Underwood isn’t the only member of her family scaling Billboard’s charts. Jumping 27-12 on Hot Christian Songs is her My Gift track “Little Drummer Boy,” featuring her 5-year-old son, Isaiah Fisher. Their version of the holiday favorite drew 1.3 million streams (up 91%) and sold 1,000 downloads (up 45%) in the tracking week.
“Drummer” also becomes Fisher’s first entry on the Adult Contemporary chart, where it marches in at No. 21. Concurrently, “Hallelujah” rises 10-8, having become Underwood’s third AC top 10 and Legend’s fourth.
