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As if we needed additional proof of Casting Crowns’ runaway success. In just the first week of release, their latest album, Until the Whole World Hears, sold an impressive 167,000 copies. That same week also established them as the highest-charting debut by a Christian artist (No. 2) in recorded history. They are hands down the most popular band in Christian music today.

I also consider them the luckiest church band in the world. Objectively speaking, Casting Crowns isn’t known for artistic innovation; their AC pop style is routine. They’re solid enough as a band, yes, but then most church bands can produce the same—we’re not talking about virtuosos here. And as far as their singers go, they’re good … but no one’s calling them the best.

So what makes Casting Crowns so special? Simply put: The songwriting of frontman Mark Hall. “If We Are the Body,” “Praise You in This Storm,” “East to West,” “Who Am I?”—whether it’s an inspirational worship ballad or a pop song that challenges the Church to love others better, Hall has a gift for straight-from-the-heart, plainspoken lyricism that connects with church-goers. Take that quality away, however, and Casting Crowns becomes a formulaic retread stripped of all creativity—evidenced by this unfortunate latest offering.

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A friend and I have been debating for the last few months over which band/artist is currently the biggest (i.e. most popular) to come out of the Christian music market. He fervently declared it was Skillet, whose Awake album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Albums chart this past August. That’s certainly the highest position to date for a Christian artist, but as I pointed out to my friend, it means nothing—it could have been a slow week for new releases. Still, the album has already sold in excess of 200,000 copies in 3 months time.

I countered that Switchfoot, Flyleaf, Relient K, or even Steven Curtis Chapman might potentially sell better, thus demonstrating they were more popular. Not so. Whereas Skillet sold 67,000 copies of Awake in its first week, Flyleaf debuted at No. 8 and sold 56,000 copies of Memento Mori, and Switchfoot debuted at No. 13 with 39,000 copies of Hello Hurricane. Neither Relient K nor Steven Curtis Chapman cracked the Top 20.

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