The Official Charts Company has announced it will launch the United Kingdom's first official Christian and Gospel music chart on Monday.

Citing a growing interest in Christian and Gospel music, the OCC said it will be unveiling the Christian And Gospel Albums Chart in partnership with Christian child sponsorship charity Compassion.

Beginning March 11, the new Christian music chart will post the Top 20 Christian and Gospel recording artists in the UK every week based on their music sales.

The chart will be broadcast weekly on Christian digital stations Premier Radio and UCB will broadcast the chart weekly and  it will be posted on www.officialcharts.com.

Organizers will celebrate the chart's launch with a show at St. James Theatre in London, with performances by the London Community Gospel choir and Delirious frontman Martin Smith.

Over 600 Christian albums were released in the UK last year, according to OCC, which compiles Chart sales for the music and entertainment industry in the UK.

"The popularity of Christian and Gospel music to date has largely been demonstrated through its vibrant live sector," said OCC's director of charts Omar Maskatiya. "We can now, for the first time, shine the spotlight on those artists who are enjoying significant success through recorded music too."

Integrity Music managing director Jonathan Brown, who was involved in the ten-year effort to make the Christian music chart a reality, called the announcement a "defining moment."

"Christian music has always been a part of society in bringing hope and encouragement. With the development of this new chart it will bring significant profile to this growing genre," said Brown, who works at UK's biggest Christian and Gospel record label.

Gospel Music Industry Alliance said it will be working on a Resource Kit in collaboration with OCC to prepare independent artists in the Gospel genre to be submitted into the chart system.

"The Kit will include a step by step approach to preparing and registering music into the Official Chart Company system. Without doing this the benefit of the Chart will be of little or no effect to those who release the music and remain on the outside of it," said GMIA executive Linton Beckles.

To celebrate the new Christian music chart, the OCC released the Official Top 10 Biggest Selling Christian and Gospel Albums of 2012: