Barely a year after winning at Dove Awards, Osinachi Kalu Joseph popularly known as Sinach has been nominated by Broadcast Music, Inc., (BMI) for their upcoming Christian Music awards.
Sinach was nominated in the category of the Most Performed Christian Song of the Year for her song Way Maker. Way Maker is currently the most streamed gospel song on YouTube with over 178 million streams. It also notched up the numbers on 4.40 million streams on Audiomack.
“In 1996 the Lord told me something. He said, “I am going to make you an example of my grace and favour.” I said “Yes Lord.” I wrote it down. It has been beyond my imagination. I am grateful to God for what he is doing with Way Maker around the world. I like to appreciate my husband for always being there for me and the body of Christ that has given voice to this song,” Sinach said.
Founded in 1939, BMI is the biggest performing rights organisation in the United States and is one of the largest such organisations in the world.
In 2020, Sinach grabbed the whole world’s attention with her song ‘Way Maker’. The song was awarded the Song of the Year at the Dove Awards 2020 in the United States.
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Prior to the Dove Award win, the song had gained worldwide popularity as many people embraced it in different languages. Way Maker has been covered by a number of globally acclaimed Christian music artists such as Michael W. Smith, Leeland; Christafari; Passion Worship Bank; Maranda Curtis; and Bethel Music to mention a few.
The song’s popularity was such that it was named the ‘protest anthem’ due to frequent use during the 2020 protests against police brutality in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by US police officers.
The same year many popular artists gave different renditions of Way Maker. In April 2020, two covers of ‘Way Maker’ by Michael W. Smith and Leeland were featured in the top 10 Hot Christian Songs chart. According to Billboard, It was the first time in the history of the Hot Christian songs that two versions of the same song have resided simultaneously in the top 10. Leeland’s version reached ninth on the chart, while Michael W. Smith’s version hit the third position.
In May 2020 Sinach also became the first African artist to rise to the top of the Billboard Christian Songwriters chart.
“Way Maker” also holds the top spot on the list of Top 100 songs ranked by Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI), based on use in churches.
