You Had To Be There
The method by which we encounter new songs may have a greater impact upon our likelihood of adopting them than the contents of the songs themselves.. Over the past few articles, we have explored some of the most notable results from our 2022 survey of over 400 worship leaders. Our[...]
From the Playlist to the Pews
Introduction We may not recognize it often, but the local Worship Leader might be a music industry powerhouse. You see, long before a chord rings out each and every Sunday, he or she chooses a humble set of songs—an offering if you will. But this “simple” choice extends beyond[...]
Raising The Invisible Hand
How do worship leaders (WLs) feel about prominent Big 4 brands, and how does brand affiliation affect song selection? This question raises a largely undetected and unexplored tension between what Worship Leaders say they do when they select songs and what they may actually do. If this discrepancy between intention[...]
Worship Leader Survey Report Now Available
Worship Leader Research has released the comprehensive "Worship Leader Survey Report (2022)", a key element in Phase 2 of WLR’s ongoing contemporary worship music study. In this pivotal report, insights are revealed about the attitudes of over 400 worship leaders toward various aspects of contemporary worship music. The survey, conducted[...]
Since 2017, 100% of Top 25 Worship Songs Have Been Singles… So What?
Suppose you open Spotify, type “new worship music” into the search bar and begin scrolling away. You’d quickly notice there is no shortage of it available to the average listener. Of course, if you are the average listener, this may be the extent of your exposure to such material. But[...]
The Worship Industry is Younger Than You Think
Dear Worship Leader Research, Hasn’t it always been the case that a small number of churches have dominated the contemporary worship industry? Sincerely, Concerned Worship Leader We’ve been getting this question a lot lately. It’s a good question and it does appear that way from a 30,000-foot view[...]
How Songs Like “Great Are You Lord” Are Connected to the “Big 4” Worship Megachurches
When it comes to sharing a new worship song with the world, it takes a village. When it comes to the Top 25 songs sung in local churches, that village has, in recent years, had four central “megachurch” leaders: Bethel Music, Hillsong, Passion, and Elevation Worship. In our team’s first[...]
(Almost) 100% of the Top 25 Worship Songs are associated with just a handful of Megachurches.
From 2010-2020, 38 worship songs appeared on the CCLI and PraiseCharts Top 25 list. 37 of them were co-written or popularized by a mere 5 megachurches. If you have ever felt like most worship music sounds the same, it may be because the worship music you are most likely[...]
Study Methodology
In 2021, six curious people, with various academic, pastoral, and music industry backgrounds, met to frame two main questions. Firstly, we asked, “What can be said about the volume of popular worship music Christians are singing today?” Secondly, we wondered, “What are the attitudes of worship leaders toward this same[...]
