Tamela Mann has topped Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart for two weeks running (March 28 and April 4) with “Live Breathe Fight.” The coronation gave Mann her 13th leader, the most among women in the chart’s history, and tied her with Kirk Franklin for the most overall. It marks her seventh consecutive No. 1.
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“Thirteen No. 1s on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart — this is amazing,” Mann tells Billboard. “And to be tied with my brother Kirk Franklin, both of us from Fort Worth, Texas, it’s just incredible. I’m just as grateful now as I was for my first No. 1. I’m honestly in amazement.”
Mann first reached the lead with “Take Me to the King” for 25 weeks in 2012. She has remained a consistent presence on the chart since, with No. 1s including 2017’s “Change Me” (14 weeks), 2016’s “God Provides” and her 2013 cover of MercyMe’s “I Can Only Imagine” (13 each).
Mann and Franklin, who most recently reigned with “Do It Again” in November, preside over James Fortune & FIYA and Tasha Cobbs Leonard, each with 10 Gospel Airplay No. 1s, Jekalyn Carr (nine) and Zacardi Cortez (eight).
Mann credits her latest leader’s connection with listeners for its chart success. “What makes a gospel song work on radio today is the message,” she says. “Speaking to what people are going through and encouraging them … I really believe it’s the words that connect and help songs become No. 1s.”
As she reflects on the milestone, Mann points to the gospel voices who helped shape her path. “I think about the people who came before me — the Hawkins family, Andraé Crouch, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, the Clark Sisters. Those are the voices I grew up listening to and learning from.”