After just a day-and-a-half of tracking, Kanye West’s latest project — “Jesus Is Born,” which dropped Christmas Day — was No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart, second only to his previously released record, “Jesus Is King.”
West’s first faith-based album, released Oct. 25, has now topped the Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart for nine weeks.
The new album, “Jesus Is Born,” does not actually include West. Instead, it focuses solely on Gospel tracks performed by the entertainment mogul’s Sunday Service choir. For his part, West served as the album’s orchestrator.
West’s choir performs Christian staples like “Excellent” and “More Than Anything” while also making Gospel remakes of secular songs such as “Ultra Light Beam” and “Weak.”
In September of last year, just weeks before his first faith-based album debuted, West announced he would no longer produce secular music.
And in October, he told Beats 1 host Zane Lowe he is now living “in service to Christ,” adding, “My job is to spread the Gospel, to let people know what Jesus has done for me.”
West, who has gone through quite a transformation over the last several months, first revealed he had converted to Christianity in early June, telling California pastor Adam Tyson, who leads Placerita Bible Church in Santa Clarita, that he had been “radically saved” and is now a Christian.