Week of April 21, 2012 Billboard Top Gospel Albums Chart: Marvin Sapp Debuts at #1, Smorkie Norful Debuts at #4

There appears to be an error on Billboard.com this week. Marvin Sapp’s latest project I Win is #1, however, according to the website, the album debuted at #39 last week, jumping 38 spots to #1. Nonetheless, ignoring Billboard’s mistake, this makes Sapp’s third consecutive debut at #1 on the Gospel Albums Chart. Another debut on the chart is Smokie Norful’s Once In A Lifetime at #4. After 55 weeks on the chart Kirk Franklin’s Hello Fear is slowly climbing back to the top, reaching #8.

J.J. Hairston and Youthful Praise’s reign at #1 with After This was cut short, as they now hold the #2 position, followed by WOW Gospel 2012 dropping to #3. William McDowell’s Arise: The Live Worship Experience made a drastic drop from #5 to #10, after peaking at #1. Now the #5 spot belongs to Fred Hammond’s God, Love & Romance with James Fortune & FIYA’s Identity close behind at #6.

Le’Andria “Baby On-Board” Johnson takes the #7 spot with her debut album, The Awakening of Le’Andria Johnson. This is the first time in the past few weeks that her debut and sophomore album aren’t in the top 10 at the same time. Finally, the last album included in this week’s top 10 is Marantha! Gospel’s Top 25 Gospel Songs 2012 Edition at #9.