Amy Grant Primer and Discography (1977–2013)
Amy Grant has released 15 studio albums, not counting live albums (of which there are 3), holiday releases (there are 4 albums of newly recorded Christmas songs plus 4 compilations of previously released material*), compilations of previous releases (including 3 greatest hits compilations), or singles. Two of those albums, Legacy (2002) and Rock of Ages (2005), feature Grant singing hymns and praise & worship songs (instead of newly written material).
For most of her career, Grant was signed to Myrrh Records, the contemporary Christian music division of Word Records—one of the oldest and most successful Christian record labels. Word entered into a pressing and distribution deal with A&M in 1984 in order to sell music in secular record and big box stores more easily. (Word’s distribution until that point was primarily to Christian retailers, most of which were Christian bookstores.) Grant and Myrrh were still promoting Straight Ahead (1984) at the time, and A&M reissued it to the general market. (Over the next few years, A&M reissued all of Grant’s prior albums to the general market.) Unguarded (1985) was Grant’s first album created with the intent to promote it in the general market to secular retailers and commercial radio stations. Heart in Motion (1991) was Grant’s most successful album, ultimately selling over 5 million copies in the United States and spending 105 weeks on the Billboard 200 (the magazine’s chart of pop albums). Her follow-up, House of Love (1994), sold over 2 million copies and charted for 52 weeks.
Legacy (2002) was Grant’s first album to be released by Word instead of its subsidiary; Myrrh had been shuttered in 2000 (it was later re-launched in 2005 with an emphasis on worship music). Rock of Ages (2005) was distributed in the general market not by A&M but by Warner, which had purchased Word in a joint venture with Curb Records in 2002. In 2007, Grant signed with Sparrow Records, then a subsidiary of EMI, instead of renewing her expired contract with Word. Because Grant had owned her own master recordings, the unusual deal also included rights to her back catalog, which Sparrow remastered, reissued, and still administers (as a current subsidiary of UMG). Somewhere Down the Road (2010) included a mix of newly-written and previously-released material; How Mercy Looks from Here (2013) was Grant’s first album of entirely new material since Simple Things (2003).
Grant recently celebrated the 35th anniversary of the release of Unguarded (1985) and the 30th anniversary of Heart in Motion (1991)—two of her most-loved albums—with expanded, retrospective editions.
* PS: Grant’s Christmas albums are no joke! A Christmas Album (1983) was certified platinum, and Home for Christmas (1992)—released soon after her success with Heart in Motion (1991)—sold triple platinum.
Amy Grant
Released by Myrrh Records
Released February 3, 1977
My Father’s Eyes
Released by Myrrh Records
Released April 20, 1979
Certified gold, April 21, 1987 (2,923 days after release)
Never Alone
Released by Myrrh Records
Released 1980
Age to Age
Released by Myrrh Records
Released April, 1982
Certified platinum, June 24, 1985 (at least 1,151 days after release)
Straight Ahead
Released by Myrrh Records
Released 1984
Certified gold, May 2, 1985
Peaked on the Billboard 200 chart at #133, June 29, 1985
Weeks on the Billboard 200 chart: 20
Unguarded
Spotify link (35th anniversary release)
Co-released by Myrrh Records and A&M
Released May 15, 1985
Certified platinum, June 16, 1986 (246 days after release)
Peaked on the Billboard 200 chart at #35, September 7, 1985
Weeks on the Billboard 200 chart: 38
Lead Me On
Co-released by Myrrh Records and A&M
Released June 28, 1988
Certified gold, December 22, 1988 (177 days after release)
Peaked on the Billboard 200 chart at #71, August 6, 1988
Weeks on the Billboard 200 chart: 13
Heart in Motion
Spotify link (30th anniversary release)
Co-released by Myrrh Records and A&M
Released March 5, 1991
Certified platinum, June 17, 1991 (104 days after release)
Certified 2x platinum, November 18, 1991
Certified 3x platinum, April 1, 1992
Certified 4x platinum, February 1, 1993
Certified 5x platinum, November 17, 1997
Peaked on the Billboard 200 chart at #10, August 31, 1991
Weeks on the Billboard 200 chart: 105
House of Love
Co-released by Myrrh Records and A&M
Released August 26, 1994
Certified platinum, December 6, 1994 (102 days after release)
Certified 2x platinum, March 23, 1995
Peaked on the Billboard 200 chart at #13, September 10, 1994
Weeks on the Billboard 200 chart: 52
Behind the Eyes
Co-released by Myrrh Records and A&M
Released September 9, 1997
Certified gold, December 11, 1997 (93 days after release)
Peaked on the Billboard 200 chart at #8, September 27, 1997
Weeks on the Billboard 200 chart: 24
Legacy… Hymns and Faith
Co-released by Word Records and A&M
Released May 21, 2002
Certified gold, June 27, 2007 (1,863 days after release)
Peaked on the Billboard 200 chart at #21, June 8, 2002
Weeks on the Billboard 200 chart: 21
Simple Things
Co-released by Word Records and A&M
Released August 19, 2003
Peaked on the Billboard 200 chart at #23, September 6, 2003
Weeks on the Billboard 200 chart: 6
Rock of Ages… Hymns and Faith
Co-released by Word Records and Warner
Released May 3, 2005
Peaked on the Billboard 200 chart at #42, May 21, 2005
Weeks on the Billboard 200 chart: 9
Somewhere Down the Road
Released by Sparrow Records
Released March 30, 2010
Peaked on the Billboard 200 chart at #41, April 17, 2010
Weeks on the Billboard 200 chart: 10
How Mercy Looks from Here
Released by Sparrow Records
Released May 14, 2013
Peaked on the Billboard 200 chart at #12, June 1, 2013
Weeks on the Billboard 200 chart: 14
Data sources: Billboard’s chart history for Grant, Discogs’s Grant page, RIAA’s Gold and Platinum database, Wikipedia’s Grant discography; Amy Grant on Spotify