Things stay the same for one more week in the top 5 slots of Billboard’s Gospel Albums chart–

WOW Gospel 2010 rests at #1, BeBe & CeCe Winans‘ Still is at #2, James Fortune & FIYA’s Encore is #3, followed by Tamela Mann and Fred Hammond at #4 and #5, respectively.

In terms of drama and excitement, the chart has been a little “blah” for the past month or so.  The last albums to enter the marketplace and make a splash were WOW Gospel 2010 and James Fortune & FIYA’s Encore at the end of January.

Kudos to Bishop Paul Morton, whose Memorable Moments album remains at #8 for the second week straight, and a big “I see you, dude” to Earnest Pugh for re-entering the top 10 at #9.

Next week, Marvin Sapp’s Here I Am (which hit stores yesterday) will land at #1 and stay there for quite some time… like, MANY MONTHS, I’m predicting.  If you saw my post yesterday, you know that even Billboard is predicting that he’ll have the highest debut across all genres next week, with at least 70,000 units expected and a top 5 showing in the Billboard Top 200 (not just the Gospel Album chart).

Following Sapp’s release, the only other albums that I expect to make strong debuts in the near future on the Gospel Album chart are Myron Butler & Levi’s Revealed (due March 30th, EMI Gospel) and Karen Clark Sheard’s All In One (April 6th, Karew Records).

I doubt that they’ll move 70,000 units in their first week, but both albums are INCREDIBLE to me and I think you’d be wise to cop ‘em as soon as they hit…  no lie.  Full album reviews of those two projects coming soon.

Whatd’ya think???