CCMmagazine.com’s choices for the best faith-based albums of 2008…

CCM’s Album of the Year:

BROOKE FRASER
Albertine
(Wood and Bone)

• Highest combined ranking
• Appears on 4 of 5 lists
• Top 5 on 3 lists 

Lindsay Williams, Editor

1. BROOKE FRASER
Albertine 
(Wood and Bone)

One of the most stunningly beautiful projects I’ve ever heard. Brooke Fraser is brilliant.

2. BRANDON HEATH
What If We 
(Reunion)

What if we all communicated as honestly as Brandon Heath?

3. THE AFTERS
Never Going Back to OK 
(INO)

The perfect blend…poetic, artistic, beautiful and all-out FUN!

4. CHRIS TOMLIN
Hello Love 
(sixsteps)

Hello one more excellent batch of Christ-centered anthems.

5. THIRD DAY
Revelation 
(Essential)

A defining album for one of Christian music’s most beloved bands.

6. TENTH AVENUE NORTH
Over & Underneath 
(Reunion)

Painfully raw songwriting. “Love is Here” is an anthem for a new generation.

7. JON FOREMAN
Fall, Winter
Summer, Spring 
(Credential)

Strikingly poignant—a new facet of Foreman that’s both surprising and extremely satisfying.

8. BEBO NORMAN
Bebo Norman 
(BEC)

This could be all about just letting go, or this could be all about just holding on.

9. FRANCESCA BATTISTELLI
My Paper Heart 
(Fervent)

Christian music’s answer to Sara Bareilles has arrived. Can you say “New Artist of the Year”?

10. SANCTUS REAL
We Need Each Other 
(Sparrow)

Six words. Oh. Oh. We. Need. Each. Other.

Andy Argyrakis, Contributing Writer

1. DOWNHERE
Ending Is Beginning 
(Centricity)

Another consistently sophisticated offering featuring the perfectly blended vocals of Jason Germain and Marc Martel. Superb mixture of piano-bathed ballads, ethereal swells and melodic masterpieces.

2. KIRK FRANKLIN         
The Fight of My Life
(Zomba)

Though technically a late 2007 release, Franklin once again shined this past year with yet another powerhouse project. The gospel/R&B/hip-hop/rocker continues to raise the bar with every album, and this is by far his most diverse disc to date.

3. BROOKE FRASER
Albertine 
(Wood & Bone)