I Can Only Imagine Bart Millard, 1999

Bart Millard, lead singer of MercyMe, wrote I Can Only Imagine in 1999. Songfacts says he wrote it on the band's tour bus around 2 a.m. and finished it in about ten minutes, though the idea had been with him for nearly ten years. His father, Arthur, died of cancer in 1991. Wikipedia says Arthur had been abusive when Bart was young, then became a believer and reconciled with his son before he died. For years afterward Millard wrote the title phrase on whatever paper he could find, picturing what his father was seeing. MercyMe recorded the song in 1999 on its independent album The Worship Project, then again on its INO Records debut, Almost There, released as the second single in October 2001. Amy Grant was offered the song and passed it back to the band. Radio play grew, a Dallas station played it after listener requests in 2003, and it crossed to mainstream radio. It won Song of the Year at the 2002 Dove Awards, and in 2010 the RIAA certified it platinum, the first Christian single to reach that level. A 2018 film told the story behind it.