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[...]
