I’ve been hinting at it… no, outright declaring it since I heard that Lecrae was returning to the marketplace with a new project, Rehab.

This week, he did just that and did so with a HUGE splash at #1, selling over 25,000 units. Not only did that land him at #1 on the Gospel Albums chart at Billboard, but he’s also #1 on the Christian Albums chart (debuting higher than CCM favorite Michael W. Smith’s new project, Wonder!), #17 on the Billboard 200, #1 on the Independent Albums chart, #5 on the Rap Albums chart and #6 on the Digital Albums chart.  WOW.  Major congrats to Lecrae and his team.

The rest of the top 10 in gospel looks a bit like this…

#1 | Lecrae – Rehab
#2 | Israel Houghton – Love God. Love People.
#3 | Mavis Staples – You Are Not Alone
#4 | Marvin Sapp – Here I Am
#5 | Shekinah Glory Ministry – Refreshed By Fire
#6 | VaShawn Mitchell – Triumphant
#7 | WOW Gospel 2010
#8 | Beverly Crawford – Live From Los Angeles, Vol. 2
#9 | Lizz Wright – Fellowship
#10 | Kerry Douglas – Gospel Mix Vol. IV

Kudos also to jazz vocalist Lizz Wright for debuting at #9 with her new project, Fellowship.  The album has received great reviews by critics at mainstream and in gospel (gospel historian Bob Marovich, of TheBlackGospelBlog.com gave it five stars out of five stars).  I’ll have to take a listen!  Anyone have it already?

How about that new Lecrae project?  Got it?  Love it?

Whatd’ya think???

Hey folks– just a heads-up… the 41st Annual Dove Awards, which were taped live on Wednesday, will air on gmc this Sunday, April 25th, at 8pm ET/7pm CST.

The awards show will feature incredible performances from BeBe & CeCe Winans, Natalie Grant, Jordin Sparks, Donald Lawrence, Jason Crabb and a special Haiti relief song with Michael W. Smith.

Clearly, that conflicts with the broadcast of BET’s Sunday Best, and I wouldn’t dream of telling you which program is more worth your time…

But when you see me tweetin’ about Francesca Battistelli instead of Bootsey Jenkins, you’ll know what I’m doing.

Heads-up, folks!  I’ve got another great way for you to donate to the Haiti relief efforts while getting some great music in the process… it’s a compilation album called Healing 4 Haiti, distributed by Integrity Music., available DIGITALLY this coming Tuesday, February 23, 2010, with a full retail release in March.

The 21-track project features great music from Israel Houghton, Michael W. Smith, Canton Jones, Kari Jobe, Amy Grant, Lecrae, Carlos Whitaker and more.  It also features the newly recorded collaborative track, “Come Together Now,” featuring various artists.

All proceeds will be donated to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association/Samaritan’s Purse for their work on the ground in Haiti.  Plus, the artists are donating their royalties from sales of this album to the same charity.  That’s BIG and awesome.

The Gospel Music Association’s wildly successful GMA Week has been set for April 18th through 21st in Nashville, TN.  The week will culminate, as always, with the 41st Annual Dove Awards.

Anybody planning to attend?  I’m soooooo gonna try to be there, especially if the quality of the awards show is ANYWHERE close to where it was this year… just sheer excellence.

In related news, the GMA held a mega fundraiser on Monday night here in Nashville, dubbed the “Concert Of The Decade,” in an attempt to save the non-profit organization from recent financial woes.  Tickets to attend were $1,000 apiece (yes… three zeros) and the benefit featured performances by Kirk Franklin, Natalie Grant, Amy Grant, Casting Crowns, Michael W. Smith and many more.  Did anyone watch it online… or attend in person???

The event is said to have sold 350 tix for a total of $350,000, but the venue’s capacity was about 800 seats… Hopefully, this will be a helpful start.  The GMA is an asset to the Christian music community.