For the fifth consecutive week, Morgan Wallen‘s I’m the Problem tops the Billboard 200 albums chart. But there’s plenty of volatility beneath him on the chart, as last week’s debuts vanish from the top 10 to make room for new albums by the K-pop group ATEEZ, rapper Lil Tecca and Christian rock star Brandon Lake. The Hot 100 singles chart is far less eventful — Alex Warren‘s “Ordinary” reclaims the No. 1 spot from Sabrina Carpenter‘s “Manchild,” while the top 10 is otherwise unchanged — but the latest charts reflect an intriguing moment of crossover for artists specializing in contemporary Christian music.

TOP ALBUMS

However 2025’s “song of the summer” sweepstakes ends up playing out, there’s a clear-cut “album of the summer.” Morgan Wallen’s 37-song opus I’m the Problem debuted at No. 1 five weeks ago and hasn’t been seriously challenged for the top spot since. It’s a run fueled largely by streaming, and those numbers have faded only incrementally since his huge debut. Given that I’m the Problem‘s two most recent predecessors (2023’s One Thing at a Time and 2021’s Dangerous: The Double Album) are also in the top 10, we’re most likely looking at a chart run that’ll be measured in years, not months.

I’m the Problem‘s durability is especially impressive in light of the rapidity with which other albums have disappeared from the top 10 in recent weeks. Last week, a whopping five albums entered or re-entered the top 10 — Lil Wayne‘s Tha Carter VI, ENHYPEN‘s Desire: Unleash, Addison Rae‘s Addison, Turnstile‘s NEVER ENOUGH and a reissue of My Chemical Romance‘s 2004 album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge — and all five of them have dropped out seven days later. (At least Lil Wayne and ENHYPEN remain in the top 20; Turnstile drops to No. 96, while MCR sinks to No. 122.)

They’re replaced by a mix of old reliables and fresh debuts. The K-pop group ATEEZ enters the chart at No. 2, notching its seventh career top 10 album with GOLDEN HOUR: Part.3. But with the vast majority of its numbers derived from sales — and the usual physical variant editions to seize on superfans’ excitement — its run in the chart’s upper regions will almost certainly be brief. Rapper Lil Tecca reaches a new career high with the debut of DOPAMINE at No. 3; it’ll likely prove sturdier, given its streaming numbers, but will still almost certainly dip in the weeks to come. And at No. 7, contemporary Christian singer Brandon Lake hits a career high by a mile (more on him below) with King of Hearts.

TOP SONGS

Last week, Sabrina Carpenter joined the “song of the summer” chat in a big way, as “Manchild” — the first single from her forthcoming album Man’s Best Friend, due out August 29 — debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100. It was a welcome shake-up of a chart that has sunk into serious stasis in recent months.

This week, Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” reclaims its spot atop the chart for a third nonconsecutive week. Both songs are getting added to commercial radio stations’ playlists at a brisk clip — thoughts and prayers for programmers struggling to find room amid the eleventy-quadrillionth spins of Teddy Swims‘ “Lose Control” and Benson Boone‘s “Beautiful Things” — so look for Warren and Carpenter to keep duking it out as the summer wears on.

If you’re looking for chart movement elsewhere in the top 10, then you probably haven’t spent much time scanning the Billboard charts lately. Aside from Warren and Carpenter swapping spots, the entire top 10 is a rerun of last week’s, in the exact same order: You got your three Morgan Wallen songs, your three Methuselahs — “Lose Control,” “Beautiful Things,” Shaboozey‘s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” — and two slightly less-ancient songs from 2024: Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars‘ “Die With a Smile” and Kendrick Lamar‘s “Luther (feat. SZA).”

So… yeah. Here’s to another week of doldrums! You could get a job forecasting the weather in San Diego, staffing the Strombolicchio Lighthouse or updating a commercial pop radio station’s playlist; you’ll be comparably busy.

WORTH NOTING

Earlier this month, Emma Madden wrote a fascinating piece for NPR Music that broke down the moment contemporary Christian music is having on the pop charts. Crossover from the Christian-music charts is nothing new — even if you don’t remember Pat and Debby Boone, you might recall the chart hits of Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith — but CCM artists have experienced unmistakable chart momentum in recent months.

Emma’s piece focused largely on two artists, one of whom experiences a huge chart surge this week. In addition to Forrest Frank, who’s been hanging around in the Hot 100 with “Your Way’s Better” for nine weeks now, Brandon Lake crashes this week’s Billboard 200 albums chart with King of Hearts, which debuts at No. 7. Given that Lake’s previous chart peak, for 2023’s Coat of Many Colors, was No. 135, the guy’s clearly having a significant moment. (The last album of Christian music to chart that high was KING + COUNTRY’s What Are We Waiting For? in 2022.)

Lake has been building to this moment for years. His single “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” which features a guest appearance by Jelly Roll, charted as high as No. 40 last month — it climbs from No. 75 to No. 52 this week — and its reign atop Billboard‘s Hot Christian Songs chart now spans roughly five months. Even outside that crossover hit, Lake has ruled the Hot Christian Songs chart for years; he’s charted dozens of songs (six of them at No. 1) there since his emergence in 2019. But he’s a true crossover star now, with the top 10 debut to back it up.

It’s uncommon, at least in recent years, for two CCM artists — defined in this case as acts whose work primarily hits the Hot Christian Songs chart — to share Hot 100 runs simultaneously. But the success of Lake and Frank only hints at a larger surge for Christian music.

It’s hard to hear Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” — a celebration of lifetime love that surges into the ringing voices of a massive choir — and not hear echoes of praise music. Warren’s background as a squeaky-clean TikTok star has rendered him uniquely well-positioned to maintain footholds in both the secular and Christian pop worlds. Elsewhere, in addition to “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” Jelly Roll — whose own songs straddle country, soul, pop and contemporary Christian music — turns up on two other tracks in the Hot 100: “Bloodline” (by Alex Warren) and “Amen” (by Shaboozey).

Will more CCM artists join Lake and Frank — not to mention Warren and Jelly Roll — in storming the Hot 100 as the summer of 2025 simmers on? God only knows.