Last fall, K-LOVE DJ Carlos invited fans to help him craft the ultimate Alphabet of Songs, a list of your favorite tunes A-Z. This spring, he loaded all of your picks into an NCAA-style bracket where your top-rated singles vied for the summit in the 1st annual Music Madness.
A total of 24 songs entered the bracket since ‘X,’ ‘Y’ and ‘Z’ were combined into one entry. The two dozen contenders were seeded based on the strength of their musical history and how many votes they initially received throughout the creation of the Alphabet of Songs. Fans were asked to vote on Carlos’ Instagram page, @losoffthemic, as hits went head-to-head in daily matchups.
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As the tournament entered the Sweet 16, the competition heated up when Zach Williams’ “There Was Jesus (feat. Dolly Parton)” was bested by a good showing from MercyMe’s “I Can Only Imagine.” As MercyMe moved up in the rankings, two of their career-defining hits — “I Can Only Imagine” and “Even If” — entered the Elite Eight alongside favorites from for KING & COUNTRY, Cory Asbury, Rachael Lampa, Maverick City Music, Lauren Daigle and Casting Crowns.
Meanwhile, the Final Four included these heavy-hitters: Lampa with “Perfectly Loved (feat. TobyMac),” for KING & COUNTRY with “Love Me Like I Am (feat. Jordin Sparks),” MercyMe with “Even If” and Daigle with “You Say.”
In the end, it all came down to cross-genre juggernaut “You Say” and the Australian duo’s latest No. 1, “Love Me Like I Am.” Despite the valiant effort from for KING & COUNTRY fans, Daigle emerged as the inaugural Music Madness champion after fans cast more then 6,000 votes in the final matchup alone.
The results affirm what history has already proven. “You Say” became the biggest song in Christian music when it spent a record-breaking 132 non-consecutive weeks atop the “Billboard” charts. Even with Daigle getting ready to release her next highly anticipated self-titled studio project May 12, “You Say” remains the eight-time K-LOVE Fan Award winner’s signature hit.
“I wasn’t surprised by Lauren Daigle winning the whole competition. Her fanbase and the love around her music is huge. But I was surprised by some of the songs that couldn’t make it out of the early rounds,” observes Carlos on the tournament results. “Big first round upsets included ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘How Great Thou Art.’ The classic hymns struggled in this year’s bracket.”
WATCH NOW: "You Say" Official Music Video
Meanwhile, it’s the stories fans offered as they cast their votes that find Carlos eager to make Music Madness an annual tradition. “We heard from listeners like Mary about the song ‘Perfectly Loved.’ She shared how it helped her after her divorce to realize that she is loved by her Heavenly Father right now, as she is. That gave her hope to pray again when she felt ashamed to pray before,” Carlos says, adding, “This was such a fun experience seeing everyone rally around the songs they love.”
