Dolly Parton breaks into Billboard’s Christian charts’ Top 10 for the first time with Zach Williams duet

ABC/Image Group LAOver six decades into her musical career, Dolly Parton is still achieving firsts. The country superstar gained her first Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs and Christian Airplay charts this week, thanks to her duet with Christian rock artist Zach Williams.

The pair’s collaborative single, “There Was Jesus,” slid into the Top 10 on both charts for the week dated July 11, hitting No. 7 on Hot Christian Songs and No. 8 on Christian Airplay. In addition to success at radio, the song netted 1.1 million U.S. streams and 3,000 downloads this week.

Though it’s the first time she’s made it this far up either chart, it’s not quite the first time Dolly has had a song on the Christian Airplay charts. Her duet version of For King & Country’s “God Only Knows” broke the Top 50 last year.

Of course, while Christian radio is relatively new territory for Dolly, she’s no stranger to radio hits overall. Over the course of her impressive country career, she has scored 55 Top 10s and 25 chart-topping singles on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

By Carena Liptak
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