Casting Crowns with Carrie Underwood at Grammys

[Photo Caption: Casting Crowns with Carrie Underwood: Members of Casting Crowns pause for a photo with GRAMMY-winner Carrie Underwood at the SONY BMG post GRAMMY party at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunday evening. Pictured (L-R): Hector Cervantes, Carrie Underwood, Chris Huffman and Mark Hall.]

Christian music’s top-selling, top-touring and multi-platinum artist Casting Crowns hit the red carpet with three nominations for the 50th GRAMMY Awards ceremony held Sunday, Feb. 10, at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles. The group received high-profile media attention during red-carpet arrivals interviewing with national outlets including The Tonight Show, CNN, Entertainment Weekly, Billboard and ABC, FOX, Extra and the Associated Press.

Casting Crowns led the Gospel categories with three nominations recognized in the Best Gospel Performance and Best Gospel Song categories for its No.1 song “East to West” and a nod for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album for the group’s blockbuster third album The Altar and The Door. The GRAMMY nominations follow Casting Crowns’ recent win at the 2007 American Music Awards in November and the 2006 GRAMMY win for previous album Lifesong.

With the release of the band's new album The Altar and The Door, Casting Crowns ended 2007 as the No.1 top-selling Christian music artist according to the Billboard music charts. The GRAMMY-nominated album has sold more than 580,000 copies and was certified RIAA Gold in the first 10 weeks following its historical debut at No. 2 on The Billboard 200 chart in Sept., second only to High School Musical 2, setting a new record for a Christian artist without crossover promotion in the mainstream market. The album held at No.1 for 11 weeks on SoundScan’s Top Christian Albums chart and 13 weeks at No.1 on iTunes. The first radio single “East to West” spent 14 weeks at No. 1 on Christian AC radio. Plus, more than 200,000 fans attended the fall leg of Casting Crowns’ The Altar and The Door Fall Tour claiming the top-grossing Christian music event of the year grossing 4.4 million in ticket sales. The spring leg kicked off Jan. 31 and will hit 48 cities.

Read our interview with Casting Crowns here.
Read our review of The Altar and the Door here.