John Legend and Toby Gad share the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Christian Songwriters chart (dated Dec. 19), both rising 2-1 on the strength of Legend’s collaboration with Carrie Underwood, “Hallelujah.”
The song rises 3-2 on the Hot Christian Songs chart with 5.5 million U.S. streams, 1.4 million in radio airplay audience and 4,000 downloads sold, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. It concurrently debuts at No. 96 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100.
The track is from Underwood’s LP My Gift, which tallies its 11th week at No. 1 on the Top Christian Albums chart (53,000 equivalent album units).
Legend and Gad each have longstanding histories on Billboard’s charts. Legend has logged 21 career entries on the Hot 100, dating to 2004, including one No. 1: 2014’s “All of Me.” He’s also earned six top 10 albums on the Billboard 200.
Gad has earned 17 entries on the Hot 100 as a songwriter or producer, dating to 2007. Of those, four reached the top 10 and two hit No. 1: Fergie’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry” in 2007 and Legend’s “All of Me.” His other credits are on songs by Beyoncé, Selena Gomez, Carly Rae Jepsen and Demi Lovato, among others.
Over on the Christian Producers chart, Greg Wells tallies his fourth week at No. 1, thanks to 12 titles (all from My Gift) on Hot Christian Songs that he solely produced. Here’s a recap of the Underwood hits and their ranks:
Rank, Artist Billing, Title
No. 1, “Favorite Time of Year”
No. 2, “Hallelujah,” with John Legend
No. 3, “Silent Night”
No. 10, “Little Drummer Boy,” feat. Isaiah Fisher (Underwood’s five-year-old son)
No. 23, “O Holy Night”
No. 25, “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”
No. 28, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
No. 32, “O Come All Ye Faithful”
No. 34, “Mary, Did You Know?”
No. 35, “Let There Be Peace”
No. 38, “Sweet Baby Jesus”
No. 40, “Away in a Manger”
The weekly Christian Songwriters and Christian Producers charts are based on total points accrued by a songwriter and producer, respectively, for each attributed song that appears on the Hot Christian Songs chart; as with Billboard’s yearly recaps, multiple writers or producers split points for each song equally (and the dividing of points will lead to occasional ties on rankings).
