New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Hoganson Media Relations) Hillsong's God Is Able released last week on Sparrow Records amidst wide critical acclaim. Recorded with thousands of worshippers gathered together at Sydney Entertainment Centre in Australia, the album is resonating with listeners with the simple, yet profound message that God's ability is infinite in capacity and yet entirely intimate in focus. Debuting even 11.5% higher than the last acclaimed
Hillsong album, A Beautiful Exchange, God Is Able spent all of last week at No. 1 on the iTunes Christian & Gospel Album Chart and peaked at No. 7 on the Top Albums Chart, spending most of the past week inside the Top Ten. God Is Able also hit No. 1 on several retail sales charts, including the overall Christian, Praise & Worship and Christian/Gospel Mainstream charts, as well as lands at No. 35 on the Billboard Top 200 this week.
Delivering 11 brand new anthems led by Hillsong worship team members Reuben Morgan, Joel Houston, Ben Fielding, Darlene Zschech and UNITED, as well as international teams from London, Stockholm and Cape Town, Hillsong continues to carry forward its mission to resource churches around the world. With millions of worshippers in church services around the globe singing songs each week penned by Hillsong writers, Hillsong is making it easier than ever for these churches' worship teams to learn the new songs.
For the first time, Hillsong launches a training initiative on YouTube, releasing videos from God Is Able for musicians to learn how to play the songs on all the primary instruments in a typical band, including: keyboard, drums, guitar and bass. Additionally, Hillsong has recorded acoustic, stripped backed "Work Tape" versions of the songs on God Is Able as a tool for worship teams to learn the latest songs in a more intimate setting. Both these Work Tapes and musician training videos are releasing on the Hillsong YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/hillsonglive.
"I think between the Work Tapes videos and these instructional videos, we have created the strongest resource for worship leaders around an album ever to come out of Hillsong," says Steve McPherson, Hillsong Music Publishing / Shout! Music Publishing manager.
"Hillsong continues to resource the church with music and tools that speak to their congregations. The message of the album is hitting home with people as they find that God is able in their marriages, in their workplace and amidst every circumstance," says Bryan Ward, EMI CMG Label Group director, product marketing. "More than a collection of worship songs, this album resonates where people are in their daily life."
In addition to the CD, the God Is Able Deluxe Edition features two bonus songs, while the companion DVD includes chord charts, live videos, acoustic performance videos and "The Scarlet Thread" bonus video, a compelling 30-minute documentary that weaves the story of God's redemptive work through Jesus for all of humanity. More information on the video and the story behind the God Is Able cover artwork can be found at https://new.hillsongcollected.com/creative/handmaking-god-able-artwork.
Hillsong will bring the music and message of God Is Able to the US on a major market tour in November and December, along with music from a Christmas EP releasing in conjunction with the tour. All the tour dates will be announced soon.
With more than 11 million albums sold and dozens of songs sung weekly in congregations around the world, Hillsong leads Hillsong Church in corporate worship every week. Resourcing the local church with such well known worship songs as "Shout To The Lord," "From the Inside Out," "Hosanna," and "The Stand," its song, "Mighty to Save," was awarded the 2009 Dove for Worship Song of the Year and is the current No. 1 Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) song in the USA and Canada sung by an estimated 40 million people every week in church services around the world. Amazingly, Hillsong has 58 top 500 CCLI songs in the US, 74 in Canada, 124 in Australia, 101 in Singapore, 87 in South Africa, 88 in New Zealand and 26 in the UK.
