Best of 2007: Christian/Gospel

1. As Seen (or Heard) on TV

Now you can TiVo your favorite CCM artists. Caedmon's Call aren't the first of the genre to land a track on "Grey's Anatomy," but they'll be the last this season. On January 3, 2008, Caedmon's Call's "Ten Thousand Angels" will play during the season finale's who-knows-what's-gonna-happen tumultuous last scene. Crossover sensation Mat Kearney graced season three's soundtrack with "Breathe in and Breathe Out." Switch channels and you'll find power-tenor David Phelps on the January 13 episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."

2. "Idol" Goes Gospel

Mandisa stepped off the "American Idol" stage after being voted off the show and onto the gospel charts with multiple offerings: her debut True Beauty, the Christmas Joy EP, and slots on three other projects including Toby Mac's Portable Sounds where she jams with Mac and Kirk Franklin, Beth Moore's Songs of Deliverance, and the soundtrack to the newest Veggie Tale flick, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. She even joined Rhapsody for an exclusive interview.

3. House of … Worship?

Christian rockers brought down the house this year at the House of Blues. Jeremy Camp, David Crowder, Phil Wickham and the Myriad (see # 9) let their praise loose on a national HOB tour. Jeremy Camp shared the tour bus and stage with wife Adrienne Liesching, former frontwoman for Benjamin Gate. David Crowder, whose endearing, improvisational spirit was tailor-made for HOB's intimate setting, enlisted the help of  homemade instruments, including a souped-up Guitar Hero guitar you have to see/hear to believe.

 

4. "Cross"overs

The irresistible Jonas Brothers bebopped into even more hearts at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Casting Crowns periodically beat Madonna, Matchbox Twenty, Usher, Shakira and Ashley Tisdale on the general pop charts. Switchfoot continued their reign, and Relient K joined them not only in rank but on tour. Plus, heard at P.F. Chang's: Chris Rice's "Lemonade." When CCM-ers make it onto canned playlists at popular restaurant chains, they've  pretty much conquered the final mainstream frontier.

5. Hello and Goodbye

Jump 5 jumped ship. This bubble-gummy dance-pop outfit will be sorely missed by Radio Disney listeners worldwide. They picked a fine time to leave, after this year's Hello and Goodbye made top lists. (Perhaps the title was a clue, but singles like "Still Got Me" were an unfair tease.) One last Christmas LP and they were outtie, playing their last show at Nashville's (and Michael W. Smith's) beloved Rocketown venue. With members as young as 19, they've got plenty of time for other successes, but teens are lamenting all over MySpace. I blame the Jonas Brothers.

6. Charitable Doughnation

This year, charity got creative: Switchfoot partnered with Habitat for Humanity twice, headlining an Evan Almighty-sponsored "Rock the Boat" concert, and later donating $1 per ticket sold from their Appetite for Construction tour.  Compassionart, a charitable movement created by Delirious frontman Martin Smith, announced that it will gather Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman, Chris Tomlin, Darlene Zschech, Matt and Beth Redman, Tim Hughes, Paul Baloche, Israel Houghton, Graham Kendrick, Andy Park and Stu Garrard for a songwriting retreat in Scotland in January, and donate 100 percent of the proceeds derived from the songs written to carefully chosen charities. As a group, these musicians account for 42 million albums sold, 82 number one hits, nine Grammys, 110 Dove Awards, two Stellars, two AMAs and 98 songs on CCLI's Top 500. Can you feel the love?

7. Rocking the Vote

Sonicflood joined ONE Vote ’08 to "rally faith communities" and "challenge presidential candidates on the issues of poverty, hunger and global disease" according to frontman Rick Heil. ONE Vote is a non-partisan initiative co-chaired by former U.S. senators Tom Daschle and Bill Frist, and supported by politicians including former Chief of Staff to President Clinton John Podesta, celebrities like Christian musician Michael W. Smith, and religious voices such as The Purpose Driven Life author Pastor Rick Warren.

8. Crowning Achievements

Casting Crowns' head-scratching formula for unparalleled success has lead to loads of genre accolades for the band in 2007: they had the number one top-selling album (SoundScan), a seventh number one hit and the highest-grossing tour in Christian music; they were the most-played artist of the year (Radio & Retail Weekly) and earned the most Grammy nods; and all three of their main releases made it into the top 25 – the only Christian artist to do so. This soft-spoken group of youth ministers has made headlines with the "Today Show," USA Today, the Associated Press, Billboard, L.A. Times, The Hollywood Reporter and more asking, "How do you do it?!" Even they don't know.

9. Myriad's Big Break (Out)
It's official: The Myriad are MTV2's 2007 Dew Circuit Breakout winners. After the DCB finale, live from MTV's TRL studio, footage from the finale was turned into a music video for "A Clean Shot," which enjoyed rotation on MTV, MTV2 and mtvU. Previous Dew Circuit Breakout winners include Taking Back Sunday, Yellowcard, Hellogoodbye, Halifax and Thursday. In response, their label, KOCH Records, rush-released Prelude to Arrows, a digital EP precluding the album With Arrows, With Poise.

10. Tube Tie

Modeled after YouTube, CEO Chris Wyatt created GodTube in January 2007 as the Christian community's topically streamlined platform for gathering together in video. It doesn't have talking cats, but it does have nearly 40,000 other clips and saw 1.6 million unique visitors monthly in its first year. Its impact and sense of community were so great, IslamicTube and JewTube followed suit.

Further Listening:

Rhapsody's Year in Christian/Gospel Playlist