Michael W. Smith’s 21st album, “A New Hallelujah,” debuted this week at No.1 on the Nielsen SoundScan Christian Albums Chart, with more than 23,000 in first-week sales.
That’s not bad for any artist, “religious” or mass-market, and is even more impressive with the current economic downturn.
For an artist who’s already won everything and done everything you can do, he may be reaching new heights with his new live worship CD, critics are saying.
The album, recorded live in Houston in June before more than 12,000 people, is receiving incredible reviews by media outlets, like Billboard Magazine, which wrote that “the veteran artist raised the bar yet again with “A New Hallelujah.’”
Another critic wrote, “With all the skill of a veteran artist and the passion of a music minister, Smith has blessed the church once again.”
Hard to imagine him raising the bar any higher.
Smith has won an American Music Award, three Grammy Awards and 13 Grammy nominations, and no less than 42 Dove Awards (often called the “Christian Grammys”), and 33 No. 1 radio hits.
He also has 16 gold and five platinum albums, with career sales approaching 15 million, or nearly a million per for each of his 20 previous releases.
And on March 17, 2009, Smith will unveil an accompanying DVD of “A New Hallelujah.”