Chris Tomlin, Skillet Win at Billboard Awards
Chris Tomlin and Skillet shined at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards, hosted by "The Hangover" star Ken Jeong in Las Vegas.
Tomlin took home two awards for Top Christian Artist and Top Christian Song for “Our God” from his 2010 album And If Our God Is For Us… , beating out such artists as Casting Crowns, MercyMe, tobyMac and Kris Allen.
Skillet nabbed the award for Top Christian Album, for Awake, released in 2009.
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One of the country’s most recognized worship leaders, Tomlin is currently preparing for his “And If Our God Is For Us…” tour, which will kick off on May 28 in Europe.
Tomlin’s latest album was released last November.
He said of the title, “The dot dot dot is pretty important to me because it kind of leaves the sentence open ended. What I want people to see [is] that if that's true, then everything is possible. Those aren't my words. It's Scripture. Scripture tells us that God is for you and nothing can stop you.”
He recently released a music video for his song “I Lift My Hands” which has been topping the iTunes charts since its debut. Last week, it ranked fourth out of 100, above Jennifer Lopez’s “On The Floor” and Justin Bieber’s “That Should Be Me.”
“The song comes from a place of struggle and is a cry to God at times when you can barely hold your hands up,” he stated. “But out of that struggle, the song repeats ‘let faith arise.’”
Skillet’s Awake, meanwhile, has topped the Rock, Alternative and Christian charts and has sold more than 700,000 copies worldwide.
Awake is currently holding the No. 2 spot on the Rock Album chart, No. 1 spot on the Christian Album chart, No. 3 slots for top Digital Copy and the No. 1 slot for Alternative Album.
While the band has been criticized for not being Christian, the band’s drummer, Jen Ledger, recently clarified in an interview during the Avalanche tour, “I love controversy because a lot of Christians assume that we are not really Christian because we tour as mainstream. However, we are still very passionate about our faith and that’s what we live for. “
The band is currently on tour.
The Billboard Music Awards determines its winners based on chart performances and social and streaming activity. Sunday night’s big winners were pop sensation Justin Bieber, known for his strong Christian background, and rapper Eminem. Each took home six awards. Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Usher, Taylor Swift, Mumford & Sons and Taio Cruz each won three awards.
A few special awards were handed out. Beyonce Knowles was awarded with the Billboard Millennium Award for her music and for her foundation's humanitarian work. In March, her father and then manager Matthew Knowles announced he would no longer be representing his daughter to focus on Christian music.
Neil Diamond was honored with an Icon Award and U2 won the Touring trophy.
