The act earns its first leader since 2008.
The Clark Sisters reach No. 1 on Billboard‘s Gospel Airplay chart dated June 27 as “Victory” lifts 3-1.
In the tracking week ending June 20, the song increased by 8% in plays, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.
“Victory” marks the second Gospel Airplay No. 1 for the revered quartet and first since 2007, when its first of four entries, “Blessed and Highly Favored,” ruled for seven weeks starting that June. “Livin’ ” then reached No. 2 in May 2008 and CeCe Winans’ “Hey Devil!,” featuring The Clark Sisters, peaked at No. 24 in September 2017.
Launched in their hometown of Detroit in 1980, The Clark Sisters comprise siblings Dorinda Clark-Cole, Jacky Clark Chisholm, Karen Clark Sheard and Twinkie Clark. (The act was first a quintet; Denise Clark Bradford left in 1986.)
“Victory” was penned by Karen Clark Sheard and her son J. Drew Sheard, the latter of whom also produced it. The song is the first single from the foursome’s LP The Return, which arrived at its No. 2 peak on Top Gospel Albums in March. The set is the act’s first of new music since 2009’s The Clark Sisters’ Family Christmas and includes an appearance from Snoop Dogg, who is featured on the track “His Love.”
Renewed interest in The Clark Sisters was stirred by a biopic chronicling their story, The Clark Sisters: The First Ladies of Gospel, which premiered on the Lifetime TV network in April. Fellow gospel star Kierra Sheard, daughter of The Clark Sisters’ Karen, stars as her mother in the film.
Meanwhile, Kierra Sheard’s latest single, “It Keeps Happening,” climbs to a new high on Gospel Airplay (22-19).
