Colton Dixon’s ‘Boat’ Floats to No. 1 on Christian Airplay Chart, Jokia Leads Gospel Airplay

Colton Dixon tops Billboard‘s Christian Airplay chart for the first time, as “Build Me a Boat” lifts to No. 1 on the Nov. 19-dated ranking. In the tracking week ending Nov. 13, the single increased by 3% to 6.8 million audience impressions, according to Luminate.

Dixon co-wrote “Boat” with Pete Becker, Mikey Gormley, Johan Linbrandt and Seth Mosley, and the latter three produced it with Sandro Cavazza. “Absolutely stunned at the support,” Dixon tells Billboard. “Thank you to everyone at radio for making this my first-ever Christian Airplay No. 1 single! Grateful would be an understatement, but it seems to be the word I keep coming back to over these last few months. Thank you all so much.”

The 31-year-old Murfreesboro, Tenn., native previously banked four Christian Airplay top 10s. “You Are,” his maiden entry, reached No. 10 in April 2013, followed by “More of You” (No. 5, November 2014); “Through All of It” (No. 6, September 2015); and “Miracles” (No. 5, December 2020).

Concurrently, “Boat” leads the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Christian Songs chart and Christian AC Airplay for a third fame each, after first topping the Nov. 5 tallies. The song drew 1.6 million streams (up 28%) and sold 1,000 downloads (up 17%) Nov. 4-10. On Christian Streaming Songs, it rises 12-6, awarding Dixon his first top 10.

Jokia Reigns Again

Jokia scores her second straight career-opening No. 1 on Gospel Airplay with “Let Him In” (up 18% in plays). The 23-year-old (full name Jokia Williams), from Killeen, Texas, wrote the song solo and self-released it.

Jokia broke through with “Yahweh,” which led for a week in April 2021. She is now within one of DOE’s mark as the female artist with the most career-opening Gospel Airplay leaders. DOE (aka Dominique Jones) added her third No. 1 with “When I Pray,” which led for two frames starting in September.