Written and composed by Bart Millard, the song, based around a main piano track, was inspired by the death of Millard’s father and considers what it would be like in Heaven and to be standing before God. The song was first issued as a track on MercyMe’s 1999 album The Worship Project, which was released on an independent record label. The song was re-recorded and included on their 2001 major-label debut album Almost There as the fifth song on the album.
“I Can Only Imagine” earned two GMA Dove Awards in 2002; ‘Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year’ and ‘Song of the Year’. “I Can Only Imagine” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 for the chart week of 11 October 2003 at No. 76. The song peaked at No. 71 for two weeks and spent a total of spent sixteen non-consecutive weeks on the Hot 100.
A music video was released for “I Can Only Imagine”. Millard recalled the video’s inspiration: “I just kept seeing all these people holding picture frames [at MercyMe concerts] that are empty because we all carry these people with us in some way. I’ve had so many people after a show pull out a picture of someone they’ve lost. These people embrace these photos and I just thought how can we tap into that”.
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