Casting Crowns continues its journey into unprecedented levels of success with the RIAA Platinum certification of its self-titled debut album for sales of more than one million copies. This momentous occasion comes only sixteen months after the Sept. 30, 2003 release of its award-winning album, making them the fastest selling debut artist in recent Christian music history.

Spurred on by record-breaking success at Christian radio, with three consecutive No. 1 singles, its latest hit, "Voice of Truth," is currently spending a record-setting thirteenth week at the top of R&R's Christian AC Monitored Chart. Two weeks ago, the band set a record at radio for being the first artist on the R&R AC Monitored chart to hold the #1 spot for 11 consecutive weeks. With massive touring already underway for 2005, the opening chapters of this amazing success story are still being written.

On this recognition, lead singer Mark Hall commented, "A year and a half ago, we were amazed that God was taking our ministry in a new direction while still leaving us planted in the church. By faith, we dove in with no script of predictions on how this was all going to work. And now God is using songs we thought were written for our students as a ministry tool for the church worldwide. We've seen the body of Christ at work through radio, retail and local churches and we are more passionate about our ministry through Casting Crowns than when we started."

"It's difficult to find new ways of acknowledging the success of Casting Crowns and this album. The words that come to mind are "thankful" and "grateful", noted Terry Hemmings, Provident Music Group President and CEO. "Provident is so thankful to be a part of this music and to know the members of this group. We are also grateful for the support we have received from radio, retail and the consumers of contemporary Christian music. Retailers and programmers recognized early on that this band was special and provided them an opportunity to be heard."

Earlier this month, Mark Hall and Casting Crowns received a total of 13 nominations for the prestigious Dove Award presented by the Gospel Music Association. Lead singer Mark Hall, last year's winner for Songwriter of the Year, garnered six nods for his work, including a placement in the Male Vocalist of the Year category. The seven categories in which the band appears include Song of the Year, Group of the Year, and the night's top honor, Artist of the Year.

The GMA has recognized songs from Casting Crowns' debut project in three different Recorded Song of the Year categories, including "American Dream" for Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year; "Who Am I" for Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year; and "Voice of Truth," for Inspirational Recorded Song of the Year.

The band also received nods for Short Form Music Video of the Year for "American Dream" and Long Form Music Video of the Year for "Live From Atlanta." Additionally, the band?fs producer Mark A. Miller has been honored with a nomination for Producer of the Year.
Upon its release, Casting Crowns quickly earned the highest first-week sales of any debut artist on Nielsen SoundScan Christian market sales chart for the year. In 2004, Casting Crowns was the most played artist on all Christian radio formats combined, and performed to more than one million people in concert, including 700,000 on solo spot dates.

As Casting Crowns graced the February cover of CCM magazine's "Reader's Choice Awards" issue, it also hit the road for the second leg of the successful "All Things New" tour with Steven Curtis Chapman and Chris Tomlin. The tour launched February 10 in Oklahoma City, OK, and will hit 44 stops through the middle of May, promising to put this award-winning group in front of another quarter of a million people by mid-2005.

Posted by Janet Kyler