Crowder, Dante Bowe & Maverick City Music’s ‘God Really Loves Us’ Tops Hot Gospel Songs

Crowder and Dante Bowe’s “God Really Loves Us,” featuring Maverick City Music, rises to No. 1 on Billboard’s streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Gospel Songs chart dated March 18.

On Hot Christian Songs, it climbs to No. 9, reaching the top 10 for the first time.

Crowder, aka singer-songwriter David Crowder, and Bowe co-wrote the single with Ben Glover and Jeff Sojka.

The song, which is being promoted to Christian radio by Capitol Christian Music Group, climbs 6-4 for a new high on the Christian Airplay chart. It increased by 9% to 6.9 million audience impressions in the week ending March 9, according to Luminate. It also drew 692,000 streams and sold 1,000 downloads in the United States in that span.

Crowder reaches the Hot Gospel Songs summit with his first entry on the chart. Bowe, a member of Christian and gospel collectives Bethel Music and Maverick City Music, notches his second leader with solo billing, while Maverick City Music scores its fifth chart-topper.

On Hot Christian Songs, the track gives Crowder his ninth top 10, Bowe his third and Maverick City Music its fifth.

The collaboration is the latest in a growing number of team-ups among Christian and gospel artists, with two other notable hits involving Maverick City Music, which leans more toward gospel than Christian. On Christian Airplay, the act and Kirk Franklin’s “Fear Is Not My Future,” featuring Brandon Lake, ranks at No. 26 (1.2 million impressions, up 5%). Gospel music star Franklin boasts nine No. 1s among 14 top 10s on Gospel Airplay. Lake, predominately a Christian singer-songwriter, has achieved two Christian Airplay leaders.

Plus, Maverick City Music and Christian music collective Elevation Worship united for “Jireh,” also featuring Chandler Moore and Naomi Raine. The song topped Gospel Airplay for two frames in March 2022, after it reached No. 41 on Christian Airplay in August 2021 (before a version without Elevation Worship hit No. 5 last July).

Jim Asker

Billboard