The Singer Died in 2012 and Earned 11 No. 1 Hits, but “Do You Hear What I Hear?” Still Tops the Gospel Chart Each Holiday Season
The force that is Whitney Houston refuses to dim. Thirteen years after her death, the legendary vocalist has once again taken over Billboard’s Gospel Streaming Songs chart, claiming both the No. 1 and No. 3 positions with two enduring Christmas staples.
Houston’s version of “Do You Hear What I Hear?” surged from No. 3 to No. 1, marking its 54th week leading the gospel chart. Her jubilant take on “Joy To The World” made an equally dramatic leap, soaring from No. 11 to No. 3 as seasonal listening ramps up.
CeCe Winans holds the No. 2 spot with “Come Jesus Come” and the No. 4 position with “Goodness of God,” while Kanye West rounds out the top five with “God Is.”
“Do You Hear What I Hear?”, originally written in 1962 as a plea for peace, has become a perennial holiday standard and routinely returns to the gospel charts each winter. Houston first recorded her now-iconic rendition for the 1987 compilation A Very Special Christmas, and it later resurfaced as a B-side to her 1995 hit “Exhale (Shoop Shoop).”
“Joy To The World” has lived several lives in Houston’s catalog. It appeared on her posthumous 2023 gospel album I Go To The Rock: The Gospel Music of Whitney Houston, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Gospel Albums chart. The song also features on her One Wish Christmas album and on The Preacher’s Wife soundtrack, regarded as one of the strongest film soundtracks ever made.
Houston notched 11 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits during her lifetime. Now, more than a decade after her passing, she continues to set records across genres. With her latest chart resurgence, she has secured a No. 1 Billboard placement in five separate decades, solidifying why she remains known as “The Voice.”
