Kanye West’s extremely eventful year continues apace, with his presidential campaign, Sunday Service Series and, of course, Jesus Is King — the Gospel pivot that actually only came out about a year ago, if you can believe it. Jesus Is King was a modest hit for Kanye but it must have wowed the folks at the Billboard Music Awards. On Wednesday night, Jesus Is King swept almost all the major Christian categories, with Kanye taking home Top Gospel Artist, Top Christian Album, Top Gospel Album and Top Gospel Song. He did lose Top Christian Artist to Lauren Daigle and Top Christian Song to For King and Country’s “God Only Knows,” so it wasn’t quite a clean sweep.
Still, imagine telling ten-years-younger you that the Beautiful, Dark, Twisted Fantasy guy was going to beat the likes of Kirk Franklin and Elevation Worship for a Christian award. Wild stuff.
So, to break it down: Top Gospel Artist: Kanye West. Top Christian Album: Jesus Is King. Top Gospel Album: Jesus Is King. Top Gospel Song: Kanye’s “Follow God.”
“Thank all my Christians who’ve been praying for me,” West said in a video. “Praying I would serve.”
It comes in the middle of an interesting time for West. There’s no path to victory for his presidential campaign, which has been marked by erratic behavior and even some accusations of him getting covert GOP support. He dropped a new song called “Nah Nah Nah,” encouraging fans to keep supporting his longshot bid.
