(Nashville, Tenn.) April 23, 2013—This week, multi-Platinum selling band Casting Crowns receives recognition by Billboard magazine with two distinguished “2013 Billboard Music Award” nominations. The group appears in the Top Christian Artist and Top Christian Album categories for its RIAA Gold-selling album, Come To The Well, (Oct. 18, 2011). The “2013 Billboard Music Awards” will air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, May 19, 8/7c on the ABC Television Network.

With the addition of these new nominations, Casting Crowns has now garnered six career Billboard Music Award nods with two wins in 2012. This acclaim rounds out a landmark year for the top-selling outfit, touting a list of accolades which include its three GRAMMY nominations, RIAA 2x multi-Platinum and RIAA Gold certifications, along with some of the most successful touring of its career and in Christian music overall. In support of the band’s latest album The Acoustic Sessions: Volume One (Jan. 22, 2013), its 2013 spring acoustic tour saw 12 sold-out dates out of the 18-city tour. Casting Crowns also made its feature film debut in the Provident Films feature release of “Ring The Bell,” available now on DVD.

Billboard Award finalists are based on key fan interactions with music, including album and digital singles sales, radio airplay, touring, streaming and social interactions on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, VEVO, Spotify and other popular online destinations for music. All measurements have been tracked from Feb. 27, 2012 through Feb. 24, 2013 by Billboard and its data partners, including Nielsen Entertainment and Next Big Sound. Top artists will be recognized in a variety of genres.

For a complete list of this year’s nominees, visit: http://www.billboard.com/bbma/finalists

###