GRAMMY and Dove Award winning rock band Third Day is celebrating an
unprecedented first week of sales following the anticipated May 4 release of its
brand new studio album, Wire. With a total of 61,106 units scanned,
Wire debuts this week at No. 1 on Neilsen SoundScan’s Top Christian Albums chart
and Top Current Contemporary Christian chart, while landing at No. 12 on
Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart. It marks the biggest first-week sales ever for
Third Day.
“An incredible six months of team work displayed itself this week between the
band, management, Provident Label Group, radio, retail and the fans,” said
manager David Huffman, chief operating officer of Creative Trust, Inc. “We never
imagined we would be able to achieve and supersede these goals. Third Day fans
are incredible and have shown they’re glad to see and now hear a new record from
their favorite band.”
Wire also debuted on Apple iTunes’ music service as one of the
top-ten most downloaded play lists, along side artists including Maroon 5, Norah
Jones and Diana Krall.
More than 1,000 Third Day fans gathered at Atlanta’s historic drive-in
restaurant The Varsity last week to celebrate the release of Wire at a special
post-concert party that followed two sold-out performances at The Fox Theater.
The two hometown concerts were a stop on Third Day’s 85-city Third Day Live tour
with special guests tobyMac and Warren Barfield. The tour, sponsored by World
Vision and Chevrolet, has already been seen by more than 95,000 in the first 19
shows.
USA Today lauded Wire this week, awarding it three out of four
stars: “Poised for mainstream impact after years of packing arenas, Christian
rock act Third Day puts its brawny anthems in the capable hands of producer Paul
Ebersold (3 Doors Down, Sister Hazel) and brings in Dave Matthews violinist Boyd
Tinsley for one track.”
Wire’s release comes on the heels of Third Day’s double win at the
35th Annual Gospel Music Awards on April 28. The band garnered Dove Awards for
Long Form Music Video category for Third Day Live In Concert, The Come
Together Tour and in the Praise and Worship Album Category for the
gold-selling Offerings II – All I Have to Give. Third Day was also
recently honored with an RIAA platinum certification for its first worship
album, Offerings – A Worship Album.
In addition to a 2004 GRAMMY nomination for Offerings II: All I Have to
Give and being referred to as the ‘touring band of the year’ by promoters
for the past three years, Third Day was also honored with an American Music
Award (AMA) nomination in 2003. The band received a GRAMMY in 2003 for Come
Together and honors from ASCAP in the Song of the Year category.
Over its 11-year career, the five-piece rock band has garnered 21 Gospel
Music Association Dove Awards, 20 No. 1 radio singles and is nearing the 4
million mark in career sales. Third Day’s success on tour is unparalleled with
an audience of more than 750,000 in 2002 and ranking twice on touring magazine
Pollstar’s “Top 100 Tours of 2002” list, ranking above acts including Counting
Crows and Alanis Morissette.
