(May 10, 2025). There’s a new pope at the helm of the Roman Catholic Church, from Chicago of all places. And while his papacy marks a bunch of firsts — the first U.S.-born pope, the first pope of dual citizenship (USA and Peru), the first pope born after World War II, the first pope with African lineage (although this is now being challenged), the first pope this century to be younger than the sitting U.S. president — Pope Leo XIV, who has said he wants to continue his immediate predecessor’s “precious legacy” with the church, actually has some work to do if he wants to avoid becoming the first pope of the past 47 years to fail to make an appearance on a Billboard chart.
That’s because each of his three predecessors — Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and the recently departed Francis — has recorded an album that made at least one Billboard chart. And with John Paul II’s papacy dating back to October 1978, that means every pope for the past 47 years has had his name on Billboard’s chart pages.
A fourth pope has also hit the charts: Pope John XXIII hit the Billboard 200 posthumously in August 1963, just two months after he died.
Here’s a breakdown of the four charting popes’ Billboard histories, according to this recent Billboard article:
| Pope | Album | Chart (peak) | Year |
| Pope John XXIII | Self-titled | Billboard 200 (No. 132) | 1963 |
| Pope John Paul II | Sings at the Festival of Sacrosong | Billboard 200 (No. 126) | 1979 |
| El Rosario del Papa | Top Latin Albums (No. 47) | 1995 | |
| Abbà Pater | Billboard 200 (No. 175); Classical Crossover Albums (No. 2); Classical Albums (No. 3) | 1999 | |
| Pope Benedict XVI | Alma Mater: Music from the Vatican | Traditional Classical Albums (No. 3); Classical Albums (No. 12) | 2009 |
| Frank La Rocca: Mass of the Americas / Misa de Las Américas (billed as Benedict XVI and His Orchestra with Richard Sparks) | Traditional Classical Albums (No. 1); Classical Albums (No. 16) | 2022 | |
| Frank La Rocca: Requiem for the Forgotten, Messe des Malades (same billing as above) | Traditional Classical (No. 1) | 2024 | |
| Pope Francis | Wake Up!: Music Album With His Words and Prayers | World Albums (No. 4); Top Christian Albums (No. 5) | 2015 |
Pope John XXIII charted with a spoken-word album that includes blessings he gave from St. Peter’s Square. Pope John Paul II’s first album was the first one in which the pontiff actually sings. His remaining two albums contained sermons and prayers.
Pope Benedict’s albums combine spoken-word with classical music, while Pope Francis’ lone charting album includes prayers, speeches, and hymns he gave around the world between 2013-15.
Pretty impressive stuff. But none of those pontiffs were able to accomplish what a couple of nuns did beginning just four months after Pope John XXIII anointed the Billboard charts with his self-titled effort.
That was when Jeanne-Paule Marie “Jeannine” Deckers from Brussels, Belgium topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard 200, respectively, in December 1963 with her single “Dominique” and album The Singing Nun. That was also the name she went by, although she was alternately known as Sœur Sourire (French for “Sister Smile”). Her self-titled album remained at No. 1 for ten weeks and was the last album to top the chart before the Beatles Invasion took over in February 1964.
Just over a decade later, another singing nun — Sister Janet Mead of Australia — reached the Hot 100’s top ten with “The Lord’s Prayer,” a pop/rock version of the biblical passage that peaked at No. 4 during Holy Week (and, admittedly, the way this blogger came to memorize the famous scripture).
With a No. 1 single and album on Billboard’s two main charts, The Singing Nun easily outperforms the four popes whose chart legacies Pope Leo XVI will no doubt be striving to continue as he settles into his new leadership role. Sister Janet Mead also peaked higher than any of our four charting popes did on either the Hot 100 or the Billboard 200.
And now the current pontiff has his work cut out for him if he wants to follow in his papal predecessors’ footsteps.
Will he? Only time will tell.
As for the secular side of pop music, Pope Leo’s ascension to the papacy is only the seventh to occur since either the Billboard 200 or the Hot 100 came into weekly existence in 1956 and 1958, respectively.
Here are the songs and albums that were No. 1 on those two marquee charts during each of the last seven papal ascendancies.
| Pope | Date | Hot 100 No. 1 | Billboard 200 No. 1 |
| St. John XXIII | 10/28/58 | “It’s All In The Game” – Tommy Edwards | Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely – Frank Sinatra |
| St. Paul VI | 6/21/63 | “Sukiyaki” – Kyu Sakamoto | Days of Wine and Roses and Other TV Requests – Andy Williams |
| John Paul I | 8/26/78 | “Grease” – Frankie Valli | Grease Soundtrack |
| St. John Paul II | 10/16/78 | “Kiss You All Over” – Exile | Grease Soundtrack |
| Benedict XVI | 4/19/05 | “Candy Shop” – 50 Cent ft. Olivia | The Massacre – 50 Cent |
| Francis | 3/13/13 | “Harlem Shake” – Baauer | Unorthodox Jukebox – Bruno Mars |
| Leo XIV | 5/8/25 | “Luther” – Kendrick Lamar & SZA | Skeletá – Ghost |
And that’s everything you need to know about popes and pop.
Pope Leo XIV may be shepherding over a billion Catholics, but when it comes to Billboard, two nuns still reign supreme. His Holiness has his work cut out for him.
DJRob
DJRob (he/him) is a freelance music blogger from the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, disco, pop, rock and country genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff! You can follow him on Bluesky at @djrobblog.bsky.social, X (formerly Twitter) at @djrobblog, on Facebook or on Meta’s Threads.
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