Whitney Houston’s ‘I Go to the Rock’ Debuts on Top Gospel Albums Chart

Whitney Houston’s I Go to the Rock: The Gospel Music of Whitney Houston arrives at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart dated April 8.

The set, released March 24, earned 4,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week ending March 30, according to Luminate.

The 14-track collection, which includes six previously unreleased songs, marks Houston’s second entry on the Top Gospel Albums chart. Her first faith-based LP, the soundtrack to the film The Preacher’s Wife, entered at No. 1 in December 1996 and proceeded to dominate the list for 26 frames. It has charted for 158 weeks and was most recently on the ranking this January.

Houston co-starred in the comedy-drama, which was directed by Penny Marshall, and whose cast also featured Denzel Washington and Courtney B. Vance (plus Lionel Richie).

I Go to the Rock comprises studio recordings and live performances. The six songs not available until now: “He Can Use Me,” “I Found a Wonderful Way,” “Testimony,” “This Day,” “He/Believe” and a live version of the Simon & Garfunkel classic “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” which ruled the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks in 1970. Houston’s take on the ballad was recorded with gospel star CeCe Winans in June 1995 at a VH1 Honors special.

Houston, who passed away Feb. 11, 2012, at age 48, posted 11 No. 1s among 23 top 10s on the Hot 100. On the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart, she has scored four No. 1s, among eight top 10s. The Preacher’s Wife generated one of those top 10 singles: the No. 4-peaking “I Believe in You and Me,” as well as the No. 15 hit “Step by Step” (written by Annie Lennox).