AUSTRALIAN contemporary duo, FOR KING & COUNTRY has nabbed top honors for Song Of Decade for its song FIX MY EYES from Australia's national Christian music chart, TCM.
And the Australian youth worship ensemble HILLSONG YOUNG & FREE has landed the honor for Artist Of The Decade.
The honors are based on high rotation airplay across 25 Christian radio stations in Australia.
Chart researcher Wes Jay says "Fix My Eyes" spent 30 weeks in the weekly survey. The song dominated the top spot for 11 consecutive weeks and secured a position in the Top 10 for a total of 29 weeks.
"That's unprecedented," says Mr Jay.
"No song before or since has ever dominated the top echelons of the chart for such a long period - more than six months. It's very deserving of the accolade for #1 song of the decade," Wes says.
For King & Country secured seven places in TCM's Top 100 Of The Decade with:
Fix My Eyes (#1),
God Only Knows (# 11),
Priceless (# 24),
Hope Is What We Crave (# 54),
Joy (# 59),
Middle Of Your Heart (# 64) and
It's Not Over Yet (at #90).
TCM ARTIST OF THE DECADE
Like For King & Country, Young & Free has racked up a massive seven songs in TCM's Top 100. But according to Wes, Y&F's final chart positions - overall - were higher.
"Six of their songs garnered a place in the Top 50 compared to For King & Country's three," he notes.
Those songs were:
This Is Living (# 4),
Falling Into You (# 6),
Let Go (# 13),
Every Little Thing (# 17),
Love Won't Let Me Down (# 30),
Back To Life (# 33), and
Where You Are (at #56).
There's one additional "overwhelming" figure to mention.
"Throughout the 2010s, Young & Free amassed a total of 73 weeks at number one on the TCM weekly Top 30 with For King & Country generating 40 weeks at the top and tobyMac 34," Wes adds.
"It's great to see two Aussie acts taking out the decade's major Christian music honors," he concludes.
More than 15 Christian stations including Light Digital (Melbourne), Rhema FM (Newcastle), The Voice (Toowoomba) and Salt FM (Sunshine Coast) will air a countdown of the 30 biggest songs of the decade this weekend.
Established in 1999, TCM is Australia's official national Christian music charts. Published by Woodlands Media, TCM compiles its weekly charts aggregating high rotation activity (derived from playlist reports, and airplay monitoring) from more than 25 stations in capital cities and regional markets.
This is the first time TCM has published a chart listing the most played high rotation songs of the decade.
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