Hillsong’s Zion cracks Billboard top 5
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Hillsong United’s latest album Zion has topped the Australian charts. Picture: David Manner
Source: Supplied
SYDNEY church Hillsong have cracked the American Top 5 mainstream album chart.
The youth arm of the popular church, Hillsong United, entered the US Billboard chart at No.5 today with the album Zion.
It sits behind Bruno Mars at No.1, Atoms for Peace (featuring Thom Yorke and Flea) at No.2, Mumford & Sons at No.3 and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis at No.4.
Zion sold 34,100 copies in the US last week, outselling other acts in the Top 10 including Rihanna, Josh Groban and Adele.
The last Australian act in the US Top 10 chart was Gotye, whose Making Mirrors peaked at No.6 last year.
Zion also became Hillsong’s seventh No.1 on the US Christian Albums chart and is also No.1 on Australian ARIA chart this week.
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Tim Whincop, Hillsong Music Australia manager, said the organisation was humbled by their American success which beats the US mainstream peak of No.17 for their 2011 album Aftermath
"Our focus has always been to bring hope to as many people as possible through our worship music," Whincop said.
"Hillsong music generally has had a strong following in America for years, and we are thankful that we have the opportunity of bringing a positive message in what is often a negative world."
Hillsong’s albums are distributed overseas by Canadian Christian company CapitolCMG, with the album promoted by a social media campaign where American fans could "unlock" a video after 100,000 shares, which happened 24 hours after Zion’s release.
Hillsong United will tour the US in June – last year Hillsong United became the first Christian act to ever sell out Los Angeles’ famous Staples Centre, as well as sold out shows in Seattle, New York, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas and Boston.
"We have had numerous worship nights throughout the USA in previous years," Whincop said.
"Following Aftermath we went on the road visiting churches and conferences, even larger stadiums and venues filled with people passionate about worshipping God."
However Whincop said Hillsong their American chart success is merely a happy byproduct of spreading God’s word.
"As we are focused on championing the cause of the local church across the globe, we are committed to providing resources to the broader church. To that end, our focus in Australia and the USA has been to provide the church with songs for their services, and also encourage people in their walk with God. We are continually thankful that our songs have managed thus far to reach not only the USA, but across the world. Australia is the birthplace of Hillsong Church and we have a strong support base for our music across the nation. We believe our support base is far bigger than our church or conferences can deliver and this week’s success of Zion is testimony to that."
Zion has hit No.1 on iTunes charts in Australia, the US, Singapore, South Africa, New Zealand, Ghana, Indonesia, Brazil and Sweden.
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