Canadian brother act, Jake, is the Group and Artists of the Year in just their second year of charting. They accomplished this feat by charting songs on both the Pop and Christian charts as well as the Top 40. One of the biggest hits of the year is Believer, a song that went to #1 for 9 weeks on the Christian chart and 4 weeks on the Top 40. Overall they had four number one songs this year and one of the top ten albums of the year. Perennial favorite Backstreet Boys came in at #2.
Mark Schultz hit it big in 2000 with the number one hit, He's My Son. His hit streak continued in 2001 to the extent that he is my Male Artist of the Year. He is also the Christian Male Artist of the Year. He charted with Let It Go as
well as Remember Me off his self-titled debut CD. He also charted with Kyrie and I Have Been There off of his sophmore release, Song Cinema. In fact, Kyrie was the only song this year to debut on my top 40 straight out of the box without charting in the 41-100 bubbling under region. This year's Top Female Artist is brand spanking new on the charts this year. Carly Hennessy is from Dublin, Ireland and with some smart production by Gregg Alexander (New Radicals) and Danielle Briseboise she scored with the number one, I'm Gonna Blow Your Mind, and the followup, Beautiful You, which was still charting at year's end. Shame on Universal for not doing a better job with this artist because she is worth a half dozen Britneys and a couple of Destiny's Childs. I'm Gonna Blow Your Mind sounds just like a New Radicals song only sung by a female.
I first heard Hanging By A Moment the same day as I heard Limp Bizkit's Rollin'. The Limp Bizkit song quickly became the worst 'song' I had ever heard while Lifehouse's Hanging By A Moment became one of my favorite songs of the year. Followed by Sick Cycle Carousel and the chart eclipsing Breathing, songs that charted on all my charts except the Country chart, Lifehouse had a fantastic first year becoming the Top New Artist of the Year.
