[WhiteRob]

Casting Crowns, the “fastest-selling new artist of 2003,” continues to see a rise in sales as its self-titled debut once again claimed the No. 1 position on the Nielsen SoundScan Top Christian Album chart. This is the second consecutive week for the No. 1 position and the 9th time since its release on Sept. 30, 2003. The album also saw a No. 1 position on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart the week of March 13 and is now sitting at No. 80 on its Top 100 Albums chart (for the week ending April 3.)

The band’s second single, “Who Am I” has been gaining momentum at radio. The single was the most added for two weeks straight at on the Christian Adult Contemporary chart and this week broke into the Top 10 on both Radio & Records and Christian Radio Weekly’s AC charts. “Who Am I” is currently No. 9 on R&R and No. 6 on CRW charts. The song is impacting close to 6 million listeners.

Andrew Patton, vp of national promotions, Provident Label Group, notes, “After only three weeks of airplay, ‘Who Am I’ is already the No. 1 testing song at KLOVE and WAY-FM's ‘Total Axxess’ syndicated show. Like ‘If We Are The Body,’ this single has taken on a life of its own, finding exceptional listener acceptance from the first spin.”

Honored with four Dove Award nominations, the band was recognized with nominations for “New Artist of the Year” and “Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year.” The No. 1 hit single, “If We Are The Body” was nominated for “Pop/Contemporary Song of the Year” while lead singer Mark Hall received a nod as songwriter for the prestigious “Song of the Year” category.

Casting Crowns, formed during frontman Mark Hall’s tenure as a youth minister in Daytona Beach, Fla. four years ago, developed its unique sound while leading Wed. night worship for its youth group. Accepting a similar post in Atlanta, Hall and other band members relocated in order to continue and grow their music ministry.

Beach Street Records, an imprint of Reunion Records and Provident Label Group, was launched by Mark Miller, founder and frontman of the multi-platinum country music phenomenon Sawyer Brown. Casting Crowns, the imprint’s flagship artist, is distributed to Christian retail through Provident Distribution and to the general market through BMG.