Chris Blue, Winner of 'The Voice,' Debuts at No. 1 on Hot Gospel Songs

Chris Blue, the worship leader at Cokesbury United Methodist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, has been crowned the winner of the 12th season of NBC's The Voice on Tuesday.  Immediately following the coronation, Blue's single debuts at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Gospel Songs chart (dated June 3). The #1 song is Blue's cover of Tamela Mann's "Take Me to the King." As Mann's original led the list for 25 weeks in 2012 and 2013, the song is the first to rule the ranking via more than one version (dating to the chart's 2005 inception).

Blue performed "Take Me to the King" on the show's May 15 episode to great applause. As a result, the song received 30,000 downloads, according to Nielsen Music. It's only the seventh song to debut at No. 1 and the first since Kirk Franklin's "Wanna Be Happy?" on Sept. 19, 2015. Before "Happy," Koryn Hawthorne, a finalist on the The Voice's eighth season, launched at No. 1 with her take on the traditional gospel hymn "How Great Thou Art" (April 25, 2015).

In response to his win at the show, Blue writes: "Omg I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS REAL! Faithfulness rewards. Life has had its struggles and the obstacles have had their days of victory, but we NEVER quit! To every person that believed, prayed and loved from the beginning - my fiancée, parents, siblings and ALL OF YOU! We are champions!"

 

 

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