Chris Tomlin receives first RIAA Gold Sales Certification
Thursday, January 12th, 2006
Last year proved to be a breakthrough experience for artist-worshiper, sixstepsrecords/Sparrow Records’ Chris Tomlin. Capping the year with his first RIAA Certified Gold sales award for his current, critically acclaimed studio album, Arriving, 2005 also brought Tomlin a series of firsts at radio, retail and on tour.
Released Sept. 21, 2004, Arriving immediately became a top-seller, debuting at No. 39 on the Billboard Top 200. The album hit is stride six months into its release when it re-entered the Billboard Top 200 and landed at No. 1 for the first time on SoundScan’s Top Christian Albums retail chart in March 2005. As momentum continued to build for Tomlin, he received his first GMA Music Award for Praise & Worship Album of the Year in April for Arriving, which was also voted best album in the 2005 Christian Retailing Retailers Choice Awards’ Music category in July. Additionally, the album landed among the top five “Best Inspirational Albums of 2005” at iTunes, was named a “best of ‘05” on Napster’s home page and marks the first Gold release for sixstepsrecords.
“All of us at ‘sixsteps’ have been humbled by the favor that seems to be resting on Arriving,” says Louie Giglio, sixstepsrecords founder and popular speaker/author. “We feel like the songs are God’s gift for this generation of worshipers, entrusted to us to build up His church. Chris has carried them exceptionally well and God has used both album sales and radio airplay to exponentially broaden their reach to people around the globe.”
