Shout-out to Christian hip-hop artist Shai Linne, whose new album, The Attributes of God, debuts at #5 this week on Billboard’s Gospel Albums chart. His songs are cleverly steeped in theology– they’re deep, but accessible– and I love that. You can check out this project right here.

Le’Andria Johnson continues to rest at the #1 spot on this week, followed by Jessica Reedy’s From the Heart at #2 and Kierra Sheard’s Free at #3.

Here’s a glance at the Top 10 at Billboard:

1 | Le’Andria Johnson – The Awakening of Le’Andria Johnson…
2 | Jessica Reedy – From the Heart
3 | Kierra Sheard – Free
4 | Kirk Franklin – Hello Fear
5 | Shai Linne – The Attributes of God
6 | Isaac Carree – Uncommon Me
7 | Lecrae – Rehab
8 | WOW Gospel 2011
9 | VaShawn Mitchell – Triumphant
10 | Lee Williams & The Spiritual QC’s – Living On The Lord’s Side

It will be interesting to see how the new releases from William McDowell and Maurette Brown Clark fare on the charts next week.

Sooo, if you follow me on Twitter, you know that the 25th annual Stellar Awards weekend was ACTION PACKED.

Throughout the week, I’m gonna try my best to give recaps of the events that I attended (there were SEVERAL), but before I do, I wanted to post the full list of winners at this year’s award show…

Artist Of The Year – Hezekiah Walker & Love Fellowship Choir, Souled Out (Verity)

Song Of The Year – “God In Me” by Mary Mary, The Sound (Columbia)

Male Vocalist Of The Year – Smokie Norful, Smokie Norful Live (EMI Gospel)

Female Vocalist Of The Year – Vickie Winans, How I Got Over (Destiny Joy)

Group/Duo Of The Year – Mary Mary, The Sound (Columbia)

New Artist Of The Year – Crystal Aikin, Crystal Aikin (Verity)

CD Of The Year – Hezekiah Walker & Love Fellowship Choir, Souled Out (Verity)

Choir Of The Year – Hezekiah Walker & Love Fellowship Choir, Souled Out (Verity)

Producer Of The Year – Donald Lawrence & Daniel Weatherspoon, The Law Of Confession Pt. 1 (Quietwater/Verity)

Contemporary Group/Duo Of The Year – Mary Mary, The Sound (Columbia)

Traditional Group/Duo Of The Year – Lee Williams & The Spiritual QCs, Fall On Me (MCG)

Contemporary Male Vocalist Of The Year – Smokie Norful, Smokie Norful Live (EMI Gospel)

Contemporary Female Vocalist Of The Year – Crystal Aikin, Crystal Aikin (Verity)

Traditional Male Vocalist Of The Year – Donnie McClurkin, We All Are One (Verity)

Traditional Female Vocalist Of The Year – Dottie Peoples, Do It! (DP Muzik Group)

Contemporary CD Of The Year – Hezekiah Walker & Love Fellowship Choir, Souled Out (Verity)

Traditional CD Of The Year – Shari Addison, Shari Addison (Verity)

Urban/Inspirational Single Of The Year – “God In Me” by Mary Mary, The Sound (Columbia)

Music Video Of The Year – “How I Got Over” by Vickie Winans, How I Got Over (Destiny Joy)

Contemporary Choir Of The Year – Hezekiah Walker & Love Fellowship Choir, Souled Out (Verity)

Traditional Choir Of The Year – Bishop Paul S. Morton & The FGBCF Mass Choir, Cry Your Last Year (Light)

Special Event CD Of The Year – The Clark Sisters, J. Moss & Kierra Sheard, Silky Soul Music – A Tribute To Maze (Barantera Music Group)

Instrumental CD Of The Year – Ben Tankard, Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (Verity)

Rap/Hip-Hop Gospel CD Of The Year – Da’ T.R.U.T.H., The Big Picture (Cross Movement)

Children’s Performance Of The Year – Rev. Dr. Emory Andrews & Oxon Hill High School Choir, Amazing (Yrome)

Quartet Of The Year – Lee Williams & The Spiritual QCs, Fall On Me (MCG)

Praise & Worship CD Of The Year – Stephen Hurd, Times Of Refreshing (Integrity)

Recorded Music Package Of The Year – Denise Trotman for Donald Lawrence’s The Law Of Confession Pt. 1 (Quietwater/Verity)

Stellar Radio Awards:

Internet Radio | http://www.ishoutforjoy.com
Small Market | WEUP 1700 AM – Huntsville, AL
Medium Market | Hallelujah FM – Little Rock, AR
Large Market | WTLC 1310 AM – Indianapolis, IN
Major Market | WLIB 1190 AM – New York City, NY

Lonnie Hunter of Praise 103.9 in Philadelphia was awarded with the Announce Of The Year Award. And the Central South Distribution REACH Awards were awarded to Vickie Hill (Saginaw, MI), Willie Mae MacIver (Dallas, TX) and Michael A. Davis (Memphis, TN).

I was surprised only by about two of these wins– I thought that Praise & Worship CD Of The Year would go to Israel Houghton.  He really got shafted this year, because The Power Of One was one of the best albums to come out in 2009.  The fact that he was only nominated in three categories, one of which was for packaging… c’mon.  But, kudos to Stephen Hurd anyhow.

Second, I didn’t think Hezekiah Walker & LFC would walk away with Artist Of The Year.  I really figured it would go to Donald Lawrence.  Either way, I’m thrilled.  I have loved Pastor Walker for YEARS and I couldn’t be more excited for him… he definitely deserved to be recognized and that album is an absolute favorite from the past year.

So, that’s THAT.  If you get Gospel Music Channel, the show airs on February 28th at 8pm ET/7pm CST.  BUT, it will likely air in your region before that… I’ll post the local dates and times when the Stellars post it… I can’t type all of that! LOL

And check back here throughout the week for my recaps– I went a lot of places, chatted with a lot of folks, and I’ve got LOTS to tell you.  Deal?  DEAL!

In the meantime, TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK of the winners!!!

No new entrants into the top 5 slots on Billboard’s Gospel Album chart, but there’s some movement among them.

Mary Mary continues to reign at the top of the chart, but Earnest Pugh’s latest release climbs from #4 to #2, displacing Israel Houghton, who drops one spot to #3.

WOW Gospel 2009 falls back to the #4 spot, while Lee Williams & The Spiritual QC’s remain at the #5 spot.

It’ll be interesting to see what the charts look like NEXT week, with the recent releases from J Moss, Vickie Winans, and the deluxe edition of Smokie Norful’s live project.

Well, would you look at that?  This week, Earnest Pugh bounced back to the top 5 from the #34 slot, landing at #4 on Billboard’s Gospel Albums chart.

Mary Mary and Israel Houghton remain at the #1 and #2 slots, respectively, while WOW Gospel 2009 climbed from #4 to #3 and Lee Williams & The Spiritual QC’s dropped from #3 to #5.

Finally, major kudos and congrats to Sheri Jones-Moffett!  She entered at #6 on the charts… a very impressive solo debut.  Get that album!

A couple of shifts in the Billboard gospel charts this week…

While Mary Mary remains on top, Israel Houghton’s The Power Of One jumps up to the #2 spot, displacing Earnest Pugh’s Rain On Us, which had debuted there last week (it’s now #34).

Lee Williams & The Spiritual QC’s remain at #3, while WOW Gospel 2009 and Da’ T.R.U.T.H.’s The Big Picture jump to the #4 and #5 spots (from #6 and #7), respectively.

I don’t even RECOGNIZE this top 5 anymore.  I’ve been so used to seeing Mary Mary at #1 and Donnie McClurkin, Israel Houghton and WOW Gospel bouncing around at #3, #4 or #5.  The #2 slot has seemed consistently changing, depending on whose album just came out (i.e., Kerry Douglas, Coko, Da’ T.R.U.T.H.), but things are different now.

Mary Mary remain on top this week, but Earnest Pugh’s new project, Rain On Us, debuted at the #2 slot.  I was bit surprised by that cuz I didn’t see as much promo for it as some of the other new albums, but congrats to ya, doc!  He’s a singin’ somebody (and a pretty nice guy, too).

Lee Williams & The Spiritual QC’s newest project, Fall On Me, debuted at the #3 spot.  Of all quartets, I think they’re prolly my favorite, but I REALLY wasn’t checkin’ for them this time around… kinda didn’t know an album was even coming out.

Israel’s The Power Of One takes #4 and the compilation album from Kerry Douglas rounds out the top 5.

So, two debuts in the top 5.  Hopefully, they’ll remain up there next week (y’all know how I feel about albums that debut in the top 5, then drop to less than #25 by week 2… turn to your neighbor and say “megachurch”).

Do you all have any/all of these albums?  Whatd’ya think of ‘em???

Ahhh, the show.  It’s actually what we were all there for, despite the fact that it was surrounded by so many equally “stellar” events.  It was hosted by Dorinda Clark-Cole, Donnie McClurkin and Sinbad.  First, can I just say how great it was to see Sinbad again?  He is one of the funniest comedians, especially cuz he doesn’t curse in his routines.  And he didn’t disappoint at the taping, either.  His chemistry with Dorinda and Donnie was great, he was gracious… I think he should be a regular.

Anyway, my favorite performance was, hands-down, “Wait On The Lord,” by Donnie McClurkin.  This track, from his upcoming album, features Karen Clark-Sheard and they did a DYNAMITE job.  Karen soars and shines and Donnie provides the power ballad for which he’s generally known.  They had BETTER NOT edit that performance because it was unreal!

My other faves were: 21:03 singing a medley of “Cover Me” and “You,” Jonathan Nelson & Purpose singing “My Name Is Victory,” Da T.R.U.T.H. performing “Reward,” and Kirk Franklin performing a tribute/medley in honor of Rev. Timothy Wright.

Other notable performances came from Tye Tribbett & G.A., Heather Headley, and Lee Williams & The Spiritual QC’s, and uhh… Sheryl Lee Ralph’s impromptu spiritual.  Heheheheee… I’m just playin’.  It was good.

But umm… there were two expected performances that I didn’t see at the show (and I didn’t take any bathroom breaks this go ’round)… Mary Mary and Deitrick Haddon were announced to perform, but DIDN’T.  Arrrrrggghhh!

Anyway, great show, VERY quick taping (thank ya, Lawd!).  You can see a full list of the winners at GospelFlava.com cuz they already typed it up nice and pretty, they’re a great site, and there’s no point in me re-creating the wheel.  Click here.  AND they’ve posted the show’s anticipated air dates and times city-by-city.  Click here.  New York, you’re up first cuz yours airs this weekend, so don’t sleep or you’ll have to wait until it airs on the Gospel Music Channel in March.

Pictures are coming soon in my 2009 Stellar Awards Weekend Photo Gallery, so stay tuned.

Now, I thought I was satisfied at this point, but I was totally unprepared for the Post Party! It’s up next!