Louder Than The Music

The new album from Grammy Award winning worship leader Chris Tomlin, titled 'Burning Lights', has entered the Billboard 200 overall album chart at number 1 today, 16th January 2012, in the USA.

'Burning Lights' sold 73,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan, giving Tomlin his first Number 1 album, and marking the biggest first-week sales numbers of his career. Having performed at the recent Passion Conference in Atlanta, which drew a gathering of 60,000 college-aged attendees and was watched by more than 100,000 viewers online, Chris Tomlin's new album sold 40% of its total in Passion-related purchases and church sales, with another 30% coming from digital downloads.

Tomlin's Number 1 chart position earns the largest sales week for any Christian or gospel artist since Casting Crowns' 'Come to the Well' reached Number 2 in November 2011 with 99,000 copies sold. 'Burning Lights' passes the 63,000 copies Tomlin sold over the Thanksgiving 2010 period for his 'Glory In The Highest: Christmas Songs of Worship' album.

'Burning Lights' becomes only the fourth Christian album to ever hit Number 1 on the Billboard 200, following TobyMac's 'Eye On It' album which became the third last year. However Tomlin's album achieved the smallest sales for a Number 1 on the Billboard 200 since 'Eye On It' hit the top spot in September 2012 with 69,000 copies sold.

Tomlin's new album 'Burning Lights' features guest appearances from Kari Jobe, Christy Nockels, Phil Wickham and Lecrae, plus several co-writes with former Delirious lead singer, Martin Smith, including 'God's Great Dance Floor', the title track of the ex-Delirious man's recent solo EP series. The twelve track album also includes 'Crown Him (Majesty)' with Kari Jobe, 'Jesus, Son of God' with Christy Nockels and 'Thank You God For Saving Me' with Phil Wickham.