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.

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.

From the first moment I heard new music from James Fortune’s latest project, Identity, I couldn’t take “Hold On” off of repeat.

On the album version, Monica and Fred Hammond provide guest vocals. It’s hot.

On this live, in-studio performance vid from Fortune and FIYA, his wife, Cheryl, takes lead. And it’s hot, too.

I’m absolutely partial to this song. Biased. Infatuated with it, even. So I’m posting it.

Check it out–

In case you’ve missed the 27th Annual Stellar Awards airing in your local market, don’t fret– the nationwide broadcast is going down THIS SATURDAY, February 11th, on gmc (check your local cable listings).

It airs at 7pm, 9pm and 11pm ET, so you kinda don’t have any excuse to miss it.

The show, hosted by Dorinda Clark Cole and Marvin Sapp, features performances from Kirk Franklin, Kim Burrell, James Fortune & FIYA, Fred Hammond, Lecrae and more.

Tune-in!

The latest installment of the WOW Gospel compilation series debuts at #3 on Billboard’s Gospel Albums chart this week, followed directly by Worship, the newest project from Myron Butler.

James Fortune & FIYA retain the #1 spot on the charts with their purchase-worthy Identity.

Here’s the full Top 10…

1 | James Fortune & FIYA – Identity
2 | Various Artists – Joyful Noise Sountrack
3 | WOW Gospel 2012
4 | Myron Butler – Worship
5 | William McDowell – Arise
6 | Le’Andria Johnson – The Awakening of Le’Andria Johnson…
7 | Kirk Franklin – Hello Fear
8 | Isaac Carree – Uncommon Me
9 | Lecrae – Rehab
10 | Marvin Sapp – Playlist: The Very Best of…

Next week, expect Top 10 showings from Fred Hammond for his latest project, God, Love & Romance. Got it yet? Check out snippets and my review… and grab it!

I can’t lie– I’m super proud of James Fortune as I type this!

James Fortune & FIYA’s new album, Identity, has debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Gospel Albums chart and Independent Albums chart. He has also debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200! It represents the first #1 debut of his career, a great feat for the first album on his own label. Kudos!

Here’s the rest of the Top 10 this week…

1 | James Fortune & FIYA – Identity
2 | Various Artists – Joyful Noise Sountrack
3 | Le’Andria Johnson – The Awakening of Le’Andria Johnson…
4 | William McDowell – Arise
5 | Kirk Franklin – Hello Fear
6 | Marvin Sapp – Playlist: The Very Best of…
7 | Lecrae – Rehab
8 | Shirley Caesar – The Ultimate Collection
9 | Charlie Haden & Hank Jones – Come Sunday
10 | Isaac Carree – Uncommon Me

Next week, we should see entries on the chart from Myron Butler and WOW Gospel 2012.

You have James Fortune’s new project yet???

Stylist J. Bolin recently launched Denim Magazine, a digital fashion mag featuring incredible features and styling. He recently featured one of gospel’s favorite couples– James and Cheryl Fortune.

Check out photos from the spread below and visit Denim Magazine to see more!