With his newest album, titled I Win, Marvin Sapp sells nearly 45,000 units and debuts at #1 on Billboard’s Gospel Albums chart, as well as #9 on the Billboard 200.

Smokie Norful debuts at #4 with his latest album, a compilation titled Once In A Lifetime. And Anita Wilson’s debut album, Worship Soul lands at #14. Not nearly enough sales, in my opinion, but I’m banking on a rise over the next several weeks.

The Top 10 in Gospel is right here for ya:

1 | Marvin Sapp – I Win
2 | JJ Hairston & Youthful Praise – After This
3 | WOW Gospel 2012
4 | Smokie Norful – Once In A Lifetime
5 | Fred Hammond – God, Love & Romance
6 | James Fortune & FIYA – Identity
7 | Le’Andria Johnson – The Awakening of Le’Andria Johnson…
8 | Kirk Franklin – Hello Fear
9 | Maranatha! Gospel – 2012 Top Gospel Songs
10 | William McDowell – Arise

Don’t have Marvin Sapp’s new album yet? Check out my full review here, then grab the album here.

Congrats to JJ Hairston & Youthful Praise, whose latest album, After This, has debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Gospel Albums chart, the highest debut of the choir’s career. Click here to check out my review of the project.

The rest of the Top 10 in Gospel is:

1 | JJ Hairston & Youthful Praise – After This
2 | WOW Gospel 2012
3 | Fred Hammond – God, Love & Romance
4 | James Fortune & FIYA – Identity
5 | William McDowell – Arise
6 | Maranatha! Gospel – 2012 Top Gospel Songs
7 | Le’Andria Johnson – The Awakening of Le’Andria Johnson…
8 | Le’Andria Johnson – The Evolution of Le’Andria Johnson
9 | Kirk Franklin – Hello Fear
10 | Jessica Reedy – From the Heart

Next week, look for Marvin Sapp to debut at #1, with Anita Wilson also charting in the Top 10.

Which of these projects do you still need to get?

Don’t get caught slipping… BET’s Celebration of Gospel airs THIS SUNDAY at 8pm ET/PT.

The 12th annual performance showcase, hosted by Steve Harvey, will feature performances from Kirk Franklin, Marvin Sapp, Shirley Caesar, Fred Hammond, Le’Andria Johnson, Jessica Reedy, Isaac Carree, Mali Music, Faith Evans and MANY MANY more.

Don’t miss it. And check out this video of BET’s Torrence Glenn chatting it up with the artists as they arrive on the Celebration of Gospel BLUE carpet!

Gospel hip-hopper Swoope has debuted at #6 on Billboard’s Gospel Albums chart this week, with the release of his latest album, Wake Up. Congrats!

Stephen Hurd’s O, That Men Would Worship has debuted at #8 . The project highlights the power behind men of God in the Kingdom, and it calls them to be active in praise and worship. It’s a GREAT project. Listen to snippets and buy it right here.

The top 10 in Gospel…

1 | WOW Gospel 2012
2 | Fred Hammond – God, Love & Romance
3 | William McDowell – Arise
4 | James Fortune & FIYA – Identity
5 | Maranatha! Gospel – 2012 Top Gospel Songs
6 | Swoope – Wake Up
7 | Le’Andria Johnson – The Awakening of Le’Andria Johnson…
8 | Stephen Hurd – O, That Men Would Worship
9 | Le’Andria Johnson – The Evolution of Le’Andria Johnson
10 | Isaac Carree – Uncommon Me

Next week, I expect to see big numbers from Take 6 and JJ Hairston & Youthful Praise, whose newest project, After This, hit stores this week.

Christian hip-hop just WINS at Billboard. The latest winner is rap vet Flame, whose newest project, The 6th debuts at #1 on the sales chart this week. Click here to listen to it and grab it!

Sunday Best runner-up Andrea Helms debuts at #2 with her first EP, Moving Forward.

Here’s the rest of the Top 10 in Gospel:

1 | Flame – The 6th
2 | Andrea Helms – Moving Forward
3 | WOW Gospel 2012
4 | Fred Hammond – God, Love & Romance
5 | Le’Andria Johnson – The Evolution of Le’Andria Johnson
6 | James Fortune & FIYA – Identity
7 | William McDowell – Arise
8 | Lecrae – Rehab
9 | Le’Andria Johnson – The Awakening of Le’Andria Johnson…
10 | Israel Houghton & New Breed – Decade

The next high-charting release should be from JJ Hairston & Youthful Praise, whose newest project, After This, hits stores on March 27th. Look to see impressive sales from Take 6, too, whose One album comes out the same day.

There’s actually not too much new stuff to report in the area of Billboard chart positions this week– a couple of folks swapped spots, and we saw sales jumps from Lecrae and Isaac Carree, but with no major new debuts last week, all is settled… for now.

Here’s a glance at the Top 10 in Gospel:

1 | WOW Gospel 2012
2 | Le’Andria Johnson – The Evolution of Le’Andria Johnson
3 | Fred Hammond – God, Love & Romance
4 | James Fortune & FIYA – Identity
5 | William McDowell – Arise
6 | Le’Andria Johnson – The Awakening of Le’Andria Johnson…
7 | Lecrae – Rehab
8 | Kirk Franklin – Hello Fear
9 | Various Artists – Joyful Noise Sountrack
10 | Isaac Carree – Uncommon Me

Next week, expect to see strong entries from Andrea Helms and Israel Houghton!

Mark your calendars!

The 12th annual Celebration of Gospel, hosted by Steve Harvey, will air on BET on Sunday, April 1, 2012 at 8pm ET/PT.

Folks already slated to perform/appear include:

Kirk Franklin
Yolanda Adams
Marvin Sapp
Shirley Caesar
Fred Hammond
Le’Andria Johnson
The Rance Allen Group
Earnest Pugh
Zacardi Cortez
Jessica Reedy
Ricky Dillard & New G 
Isaac Carree
Mali Music
Ledisi
Faith Evans
Kelly Price
Johnny Gill
Jennifer Holliday
James Fortune & FIYA
Moses Tyson, Jr.
Maurette Brown Clark
Dr. Bobby Jones
Wendy Raquel Robinson

The event will also feature tributes to Mahalia Jackson and Whitney Houston.

The two-hour special will be taped next Friday, March 16th, at 8 p.m. PT at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.

FREE TICKETS are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Email betrsvp@bet.net to get ‘em!

This year’s installment of the ever-popular compilation project, WOW Gospel, remains at #1 for the second week at Billboard.

We also see Le’Andria Johnson’s latest effort experience a sales rise, from its #4 debut last week to the #2 position.

Here’s the rest of Billboard’s Top 10 in Gospel:

1 | WOW Gospel 2012
2 | Le’Andria Johnson – The Evolution of Le’Andria Johnson
3 | James Fortune & FIYA – Identity
4 | Fred Hammond – God, Love & Romance
5 | Le’Andria Johnson – The Awakening of Le’Andria Johnson…
6 | William McDowell – Arise
7 | Brian Courtney Wilson – So Proud
8 | Marvin Sapp – Playlist: The Very Best Of…
9 | Kirk Franklin – Hello Fear
10 | Various Artists – Joyful Noise Sountrack

Again, we probably won’t see much by way of major changes until after the debut project from Andrea Helms hits stores on March 6th, along with a compilation from Israel Houghton.

Congrats to Le’Andria Johnson, whose sophomore album, The Evolution of Le’Andria Johnson, debuted at #4 on Billboard’s Gospel Albums chart this week. It’s cuddled-up next to her debut release, The Awakening of Le’Andria Johnson, which sits at #5 this week.

The rest of Billboard’s Top 10 in Gospel is:

1 | WOW Gospel 2012
2 | James Fortune & FIYA – Identity
3 | Fred Hammond – God, Love & Romance
4 | Le’Andria Johnson – The Evolution of Le’Andria Johnson
5 | Le’Andria Johnson – The Awakening of Le’Andria Johnson…
6 | Various Artists – Joyful Noise Sountrack
7 | William McDowell – Arise
8 | Brian Courtney Wilson – So Proud
9 | Kirk Franklin – Hello Fear
10 | Lecrae – Rehab

It appears that there’s been a tiny bit of a sales slump and we won’t really see any major new releases until March 6th, with the release of Andrea Helms’ debut project, Moving Forward.

In my humble opinion, Brian Courtney Wilson is an artist who has still not quite received his due in the gospel industry. In addition to topping both radio and sales charts with his debut album, Just Love, he’s a super kind and genuine dude with a great voice and wonderful passion for ministry.

Soooo, I’m a bit excited to write that his newest project, So Proud, has debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Gospel Albums chart this week. If you don’t have it yet, check out my review on GospelPundit.com AND my review for gmc’s website. Then buy it here.

The rest of Billboard’s Top 10 in Gospel is:

1 | Brian Courtney Wilson – So Proud
2 | WOW Gospel 2012
3 | Fred Hammond – God, Love & Romance
4 | James Fortune & FIYA – Identity
5 | Various Artists – Joyful Noise Sountrack
6 | William McDowell – Arise
7 | Le’Andria Johnson – The Awakening of Le’Andria Johnson…
8 | Kirk Franklin – Hello Fear
9 | Lecrae – Rehab
10 | Marvin Sapp – Playlist: The Very Best of…

The new project from Le’Andria Johnson hit stores yesterday, and should debut very high next week. That will be a pretty good look for the new Grammy winner, as both her freshman and sophomore albums (not counting the Christmas project) will be in the Top 10.