Parity – The 2007 Singing News Top 40 and College Football

You faithful readers will know that I am a sports nut, and anyone with even a passing interest in sports realizes what a crazy regular season was just concluded in college football.  Something like 6 #2 teams lost to unranked opponents through the course of the season, top-5 Michigan lost at home to a 1-AA school, and traditional powers struggled while previously second-tier programs like Missouri, Kansas, and South Florida saw the lights and glitz of top 5 rankings.  This season showed a lot of parity in college football.

Now before you go thinking this is another sports post, let me submit that I have noticed a similar situation in Southern Gospel music this year.  It is shown in the Singing News top 40 chart for 2007.  Like Ohio State and LSU, the big names are still there as expected.  For example, the Hoppers sit at #2 with “He Erased It.”  However, there are some groups that haven’t been traditionally upper-echelon groups with strong showings on the chart.  The Dove Brothers at #1 and The Whisnants at #3 are similar to what West Virginia was to football, a team that can argue that it competes regularly with the big boys, but for some reason still not regarded as one of them.  The SG versions of Kansas and South Florida?  Try The Browders at #20 and The Shepherds at #25.  I must confess I was not familiar with either group, and so I googled them just to find out a little bit about them.  How about some perennial powers that finished a bit lower that normal, like say Tennessee, Michigan, or USC?    How about Booth Brothers at #21, Greater Vision at #24, and Gold City at #30.

Don’t take this the wrong way, I’m not complaining about either the football season or the SN chart, I thought this was one of the best football seasons ever, and it’s nice to see new blood get some recognition in Southern Gospel as well.  I just find it to be an interesting parallel between two very dissimilar things.  Truly 2007 is a year of parity in more ways than one!