Christian music’s top-selling artist Casting Crowns reaches another milestone this week with the RIAA Gold certification of its third album smash The Altar and The Door. This certification, signifying U.S. album shipments exceeding 500,000 units, comes only 10 weeks after the August 28th release, making it the fastest-selling Casting Crowns album to date and frontrunner as the No.1 selling Christian music title of the year.

“What a wonderful achievement this is,” says Terry Hemmings, President and CEO of Provident Music Group. “A gold record at any point in an artist’s career is a milestone, but at this point in the storied career of Casting Crowns, this one is special. The current environment does not provide many record-setting performances such as this. We are so pleased to be a part of the artistry and ministry of Casting Crowns and congratulate them on this amazing achievement.”

The Altar and The Door debuted at No. 2 on The Billboard 200 chart with 129,000 scans, a new record for a Christian artist without crossover promotion in the mainstream market. The album remains No.1 on SoundScan’s Top Christian Albums chart, and the radio single East to West continues to hold at No. 1 at Christian AC radio for 13 weeks.

This week’s RIAA Gold achievement also follows the band’s back-to-back Platinum certifications on its first two albums, Lifesong and its self-titled debut, setting an RIAA record this year as the fastest Christian music artist in its career to have its first two albums certified Platinum, and only the second in RIAA history ever to achieve it (the other being Jars of Clay in 2000).

In related news, the accompanying songbook for The Altar and The Door will be available on January 15th, 2008 in both Piano/Vocal/Guitar and Easy Piano formats.