JESUS, TAKE THE WHEEL

"'Jesus, Take the Wheel'" is a Grammy Award-winning song written by Brett James, Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson. It is the first single from Carrie Underwood's debut album, ''Some Hearts''. The song was nominated for Song of the Year, and won Best Female Country Vocal Performance as well as Best Country Song at the Grammy Awards.
"Jesus, Take the Wheel" was certified Platinum by the RIAA in April 2006.
The song was at #39 on the Billboard US country charts in its very first week, marking the first time in that chart's history that a singer's debut single was already Top 40 in its first week.
The song spent six weeks as number 1 on the Billboard Country Singles chart, tying Faith Hill's Breathe as a runner-up for longest-running number-one by a solo female artist, a record held by Connie Smith. Smith's "Once a Day" had an eight-week run at number one in 1964-65.
It proved to be a crossover hit, eventually making it to number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and selling around 914,153 digital downloads.
During the fifth season of ''American Idol'' Carrie Underwood went back to the show to perform the song.
Proving the song's success, at the 41 Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, "Jesus, Take the Wheel" was named Single of the Year.
On December 11, 2006, Oprah Winfrey held an "iTunes" concert featuring Carrie Underwood, Josh Groban, Michael Buble, and Tony Bennet. Carrie performed "Jesus, Take the Wheel" there.
On April 17, 2007, American Idol season 6 contestant LaKisha Jones performed this song during the "Country" theme week, but received poor reviews from the judges. This marked the second time an American Idol winner's song was covered on the show with the first being Lisa Tucker on season 5 covering Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You".

Contents

Music video

Chart performance

Succession

Music video

The music video (viewable here) for it was originally slated for release on November 4, 2005 but was delayed and made available at a later date on Yahoo! Launch.
The song tells the story of a young mother who lives a hectic life. On her late-night drive on a snow-covered road in Cincinnati, Ohio, the woman begins sorting out her emotions and bemoans not having enough time to do the things that really matter. Then, her car hits a patch of black ice, causing the woman to lose control of her car. She panics, takes her hands off the steering wheel and cries out to Jesus; shortly thereafter, the car stops spinning and safely stops on the shoulder. After taking stock of the situation (and seeing that her baby has remained fast asleep in the rear seat), the woman decides to "give Jesus the wheel" not only of her car but of her life also.
The video for "Jesus, Take The Wheel" spent 3 weeks at #1 on CMT's Top 20 Countdown, and in December 2006, it was revealed that it was the #5 video of 2006 according to CMT's Top 20 of 2006 Countdown.

Chart performance

Chart (2005)	Peak Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	20
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	79
U.S. Billboard Country Singles	1
U.S. Christian Hits	1
Chart (2006)	Peak Position
U.S. Adult Contemporary	23
Canadian BDS Airplay	16
Canadian Radio & Records Country Singles	1

Succession