Whitney Houston is back at the top of the charts—again.
More than a decade after her death, the late icon holds the No. 1 and No. 3 spots on Billboard’s Gospel Streaming Songs chart for the week ending December 13.
Houston’s version of “Do You Hear What I Hear?” climbed from No. 3 to take the top position, marking 54 total weeks on the chart. At the same time, her rendition of “Joy to the World” surged from No. 11 to No. 3, extending its run to 47 weeks.
The movement places Houston alongside longtime collaborator and friend CeCe Winans, who currently holds the No. 2 spot with “Come Jesus Come” and No. 4 with “Goodness of God.” Kanye West rounds out the top five with “God Is.”
The renewed success centers on “Do You Hear What I Hear?”, a song whose history predates Houston by decades.
Written in October 1962 by Noël Regney and Gloria Shayne during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the song was conceived as a plea for peace rather than a commercial holiday record.
Regney later said the lyrics were inspired by watching children in strollers on the streets of New York City, an image that made the looming threat of war feel especially heavy. Shayne once recalled that neither of them could sing the song straight through when it was finished because of how emotional the moment felt.
Houston recorded her version in 1987 for A Very Special Christmas, produced by Jimmy Iovine. Her performance stripped away excess and leaned into clarity, power, and restraint—an approach that resonated with audiences across gospel, R&B, and holiday music. She later included the track on the CD single for “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” in 1995.
Over the years, her recording has topped multiple Billboard gospel charts, making her one of the few artists to earn No. 1 singles across four—and later five—separate decades.
Also appearing in this week’s top 10 is Solomon Ray, an AI-generated gospel artist who lands at No. 8 with “Find Your Rest.” The project is backed by conservative rapper and content creator Christopher Jermaine Townsend, known as Topher, who has described the AI persona as an extension of his creative work rather than a replacement for human artists.