Christian rapper Lecrae leads with 7 Dove Awards nominations

Published May 02, 2016

Hip-hop artist Lecrae. (Courtesy Reach Records.)

Christian rapper Lecrae leads the pack of nominees for the 46th annual Dove Awards with seven nominations, including artist of the year, thanks to his chart-topping album, "Anomaly."

The Gospel Music Association announced on Wednesday the nominees for the awards, which will be held on Oct. 13 in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Grammy-winning artist, who was a co-host of the awards show in 2014, topped the Billboard 200 albums chart last year with his seventh studio album. Brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone, who perform as for KING & COUNTRY, have five nominations including artist of the year, and Crowder, Matt Maher and Chris Tomlin have four nominations each.

Francesca Battistelli, Kari Jobe and Mercy Me round out the artist-of-the-year nominations.