Josiah Queen’s ‘Damascus Road’ Debuts at No. 16 on Billboard 200, With CD and Vinyl Proceeds Aiding Persecuted Christians

Josiah Queen spent roughly four days signing some 20,000 CDs and vinyl records for Damascus Road. As he worked through the stacks, he was praying about where the money should go. Now, with the album debuting at No. 16 on the Billboard 200, the 23-year-old Christian singer-songwriter has pledged all proceeds from its CD and vinyl sales to support persecuted Christians around the world.

The November 7 Billboard 200 marks Queen's first appearance in the all-genre top 20, surpassing the No. 57 peak of his previous album, Mt. Zion. HITS Daily Double also placed Damascus Road at No. 16 on its chart, reporting 27,024 first-week album-equivalent units. In the United Kingdom, the record opened at No. 1 on the Official Christian & Gospel Albums Chart.

Queen told The Jesus People Podcast that the decision to give away the proceeds began with a late-night scroll through Instagram. He came across a video of Global Christian Relief ambassador Ryan Miller speaking with a Nigerian pastor about the persecuted church. The conversation moved Queen to dedicate the proceeds from both signed and unsigned physical copies of the album to the cause.

Released October 23, the 14-track album takes its name from the road where Saul encounters Jesus in Acts 9. Queen recorded with a full band for the first time, expanding the folk-rock sound that carried his earlier releases. The album includes "demons," which reached No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Christian Songs chart, and closes with "Jesus Is Coming Back Soon," a duet with Forrest Frank.

In an early review for Jesus Freak Hideout, Noah Schmidt called Damascus Road a step up from Mt. Zion, praising its broader musical range and highlighting "judas," "when I see You" and "demons." In "judas," Queen turns the biblical story of betrayal inward, reflecting on how readily he fails Jesus without the promise of silver.

The chart debut follows Queen's Song of the Year win at the 2026 GMA Dove Awards for "Dusty Bibles." Next spring, he'll bring Damascus Road to audiences across the United States and Canada on his largest headlining tour to date, beginning April 8 in Tulsa.