Hillsong Live Outsells Beyonce and Lady Gaga
Sydney's Hillsong Live outsold Beyonce and Lady Gaga on Australia's ARIA Top 50 Album Chart.
Their recent album God Is Able debuted in the top three this week, just behind Adele's 21 at number one and LMFAO's Sorry for Party Rocking.
This is the 10th Christian album to reach the top 10 on the chart since 2002, according to The Telegraph.
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God Is Able is Hillsong Live's 20th recording. The multiple gold and platinum band recorded the album live in front of thousands of worshippers at Sydney Entertainment Centre in Australia.
The 11 tracks led by Hillsong worship team members Reuben Morgan, Joel Houston, Ben Fielding, Darlene Zschech and Hillsong UNITED also includes talent from international teams from London, Stockholm and Cape Town.
The album centers on people's personal relationship with God in the midst of dire circumstances such as the turmoil that Australia and the rest of the world witnessed with tsunamis, earthquakes, nuclear disasters, tornadoes and war.
The songs "Rise" and "Alive in Us" speak about God's faithfulness the midst of whatever is going on in the world, including death.
Their title album song, "God Is Able," echoes Ephesians 3, explained the song's writer Ben Fielding.
"We sat down to write 'God Is Able' with the words of Ephesians 3 stirring in us," Fielding said. "God isn't small enough to fit into even our grandest thoughts and plans. He is immeasurably beyond them. In our most hopeful moments, and when it's hard to imagine a way forward, when circumstances seem so overwhelming ... Our God is with us, He is for us, He will not fail or leave us."
Hillsong's Reuben Morgan, worship pastor at Hillsong Australia, said in a statement, "I love this album. The songs are fresh, they are songs of faith and hope, songs that our church have really taken hold of."
