For the first time in 11 years, Christian music is making a major comeback in the Billboard Hot 100, with two massive hit songs: Brandon Lake’s “Hard Fought Hallelujah” and Forrest Frank’s “Your Way’s Better” staying on the charts for 23 weeks and 14 weeks, respectively, sitting alongside the biggest secular hits in the world.
For background, Christian artists Forrest Frank and Brandon Lake (collaborating with Jelly Roll) released some of the biggest hits of summer 2025, becoming the first artists with songs on the Billboard Hot 100 since Lauren Daigle in 2019. Lake’s song “Hard Fought Hallelujah” has particularly made waves due to his decision to collaborate with country star Jelly Roll.
Speaking about his collaboration with Jelly Roll, “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” in an interview with K-Love, Brandon Lake said, “I wanted to share this song with somebody that had a really beautiful and hard-fought story, and the first person that came to mind was Jelly.” Jelly Roll added, “I’m honored that I was the call.”
Continuing, Jelly Roll told K-Love, “I’m a Brandon Lake fan… What he’s doing for Christian music, even outside of Christian music — he’s taking it further than I’ve seen anybody take it in a long time.” Moreover, while the two artists come from different genres, Jelly Roll said, “We didn’t want it to feel like an off-brand collab. I wanted to share my heart with him,” adding, “You can always expect me to be honest to the human I am right now.”
Moreover, talking to the crowd at a sold-out show in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on July 18, 2025, Lake said that he had received criticism from “religious” people for collaborating with Jelly Roll, who is considered a “secular” artist, on “Hard Fought Hallelujah.” Lake told the crowd that despite the criticism, “We’ve been able to sing this song of brokenness, but this still gets people to sing out ‘hallelujah,’ no matter how hard it gets.”
Continuing, Lake said that “the bigger [the] rooms” he goes into, referring to his increasing presence in the music industry at large, “the more hate it seems I’ve gotten from the religious folks.” He added, “But the last time I checked, and I’ve been reading my Bible, [God] calls us to run into the darkness carrying our light [and] to not be afraid of the darkness.”
Furthermore, Lake cited the book of 1 Peter, saying, “Here’s the truth: every single one of us were once in the darkness. I love this Scripture in 1 Peter 2:9. It says that we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation set apart that we may sing the praises of him who took us from the darkness and pulled us into his wonderful, glorious light.”
Writing on the shift in the Hot 100 towards Christian music, Billboard’s Xander Zellner explained that Lake, along with Forrest Frank, “have both emerged as breakout stars in the Christian music world, thanks in part to their growing popularity across social media platforms like TikTok.”
Watch the music video for “Hard Fought Hallelujah”:
Featured image credit: Video screengrab