On Feb. 23, 1974, the Billboard Hot 100 welcomed an unlikely new name: a Catholic nun.
Sister Janet Mead’s pop-rock recording of “The Lord’s Prayer” entered the chart that week and would go on to become one of the most unusual hits of the decade. The single spent 13 weeks on the Hot 100 and eventually climbed to No. 4—reaching its peak during Holy Week in April 1974. It also rose to No. 2 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
Produced by Martin Erdman and originally released in Australia, the song quickly became an international success. It sold nearly three million copies worldwide and was certified Gold in the United States for sales of one million copies.
The achievement was historic. Mead became the first Roman Catholic nun in more than a decade to score a major pop hit in America, following Sister Luc-Gabrielle—known as “the Singing Nun”—whose “Dominique” reached No. 1 in 1963.
Even more remarkably, “The Lord’s Prayer” remains the only Top 10 hit in which the entire lyrical content comes directly from the Bible. Every word of the song is drawn from the prayer attributed to Jesus Christ.
The success earned Mead a Grammy nomination for Best Inspirational Performance at the 1975 Grammy Awards. She ultimately lost the award to Elvis Presley for “How Great Thou Art.”
The song actually has an interesting origin story. It grew out of Mead’s earlier efforts to modernize church music. In the early 1970s, she began exploring the “Rock Mass” concept, aiming to make the Catholic Mass more engaging and accessible for her students. The idea evolved into a series of Rock Masses held at St. Francis Xavier’s Cathedral in Adelaide, Australia.
In 1973, she began making professional recordings for schools and churches before traveling to Sydney to record with Erdman. The label initially asked her to record Donovan’s “Brother Sun, Sister Moon,” and Erdman suggested a rock arrangement of “The Lord’s Prayer” as a B-side. Instead, it became the breakout hit. Mead donated her share of the royalties to charity, while Festival Records used its portion of the proceeds to upgrade one of its recording studios.
The song’s popularity led to the release of her album With You I Am, which reached No. 19 in Australia in July 1974. She followed it with A Rock Mass, a full recording of one of her live liturgical performances.
More than five decades after it first entered the Billboard Hot 100, “The Lord’s Prayer” remains one of the most unexpected and distinctive hits in chart history.
