Lauren Daigle just broke the record for longest reign on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart. Her song “You Say” has sat in the No. 1 spot in the category for 62 weeks.
Daigle’s 62nd week caused her to beat Hillsong UNITED’s record for “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail,” which remained No. 1 on the Hot Christian Songs chart for 61 weeks starting December 2013.
“I really pondered the journey of the song ‘Oceans,’ and I remember seeing the impact that song made on so many people. It was just so beautiful to me,” Daigle tells Billboard. “I hoped that I could be a part of something that shakes the earth like that song. I didn’t know that would ever happen, and I had no idea that ‘You Say’ would be something that would parallel the life of ‘Oceans.'”
The news of “You Say” breaking Billboard records came just days after Daigle announced her Lauren Daigle World Tour with Johnnyswim, which will begin in Australia next year and end in Lafayette in July 2020, according to Fox News.
“You Say” first hit No. 1 on the Christian chart in July of last year. The song, which Daigle co-wrote with Jason Ingram and Paul Mabury, came from her album Look Up Child and reminds listeners that their identity is in Jesus Christ, not in what they or others think about them.
Daigle explains the story behind “You Say” in a video, saying that after her first Dove Awards, she was trying to process what happened and how to come back to reality. She realized she went through periods of “really high highs and really low lows.”
“And involving expectation in that space can leave you really questioning your identity: ‘Where do I fit in? Where is my security? Where is my footing?'” she says. “… With that, I think a lot of times we build these complexes based on insecurity, based on fear, based on rejection and just lies we have to constantly overcome.
“So this song, for me, was just a reminder of identity. It was a reminder that when I’m weak, He’s strong, so how do I change that and bring it into my everyday life? When I feel inadequate, how is it that there’s always these moments where I felt like God just steps in and supersedes my inadequacies.”
Pop singer Selena Gomez recently praised Daigle for her “anointing that bursts out ferociously in her voice, words and music.” Gomez called Daigle and her music “a blessing,” to which Daigle responded, “Love you girl.”
Daigle also made music history in August when “You Say” dethroned Maroon 5’s “Girls Like You” as No. 1 in the Adult Contemporary radio airplay chart. No other Christian song has made a crossover like that.
Watch the full video of the story behind “You Say” in this article.
