When Luminate reported the fastest-growing music genres within the first half of 2024 (by means of the week of Might 30), modern Christian music (CCM)/gospel unexpectedly positioned within the high 5. When analyzing general consumption — track-equivalent albums, stream-equivalent albums and on-demand audio — the style grew 8.9%, greater than twice the general trade progress price of three.9% for a similar interval in 2023.
CCM/gospel’s rise is even stronger on Spotify. Representatives for the platform say the style has grown 30% in the US and greater than 30% globally prior to now 12 months. Over the previous 5 years, the style has grown 50% stateside and 60% globally.
“This previous March alone, the Christian and gospel style had its greatest streaming month on Spotify ever,” says Maritza “Ritz” McCain, Spotify’s senior editor, Christian and gospel.
McCain additionally factors to CCM/gospel’s international attain, noting that whereas the US is the most important marketplace for Christian music, international consumption is increasing in markets that embrace Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and the Philippines. She additionally cites promising progress in markets akin to India, Indonesia and Germany.
In response to Luminate, the highest 5 CCM/gospel acts for 2024’s first half had been Elevation Worship, Lauren Daigle, Phil Wickham, Hillsong Worship and Brandon Lake. Elevation Worship’s tune “Reward,” that includes Lake, Chris Brown — a special Chris Brown from the “Run It” singer — and Chandler Moore, is the most important CCM hit of 2024 so far, having spent 24 weeks atop Billboard’s Scorching Christian Songs chart.
Cole Flynn, head of promoting at Elevation Worship Data, attributes “six or seven” various factors which have contributed to the shift. For one, the consumption and promotion of CCM by a brand new era of social media-savvy followers on these platforms is attracting new listeners.
“This entire era has grown up with Spotify and Apple Music, and with the flexibility to entry any sort of music they wish to hear at any cut-off date,” says Leigh Holt of Hsquared Administration, which manages Daigle and Riley Clemmons. “The limitations have been damaged. There are extra individuals who can say, ‘These are the methods I wish to categorical my religion.’”
In response to Luminate Insights, the share of listeners who’re millennials and youthful grew from 39% of general style listenership in 2022 to 45% in 2024. Moreover, the variety of hours that CCM/gospel followers spent with music every month elevated from 47.9 hours to 56.8 up to now in 2024 — a 19% enhance.
“Worship music does skew youthful, agewise and listenerwise,” Flynn says. “Individuals of their 20s and 30s are listening to Elevation Worship, whereas a typical Christian radio viewers could be slightly older.” He provides that this evolution has necessitated adjustments in advertising and marketing methods for Elevation Worship, because it has with different CCM/gospel artists. “We’ve launched music slightly earlier, teased it out slightly earlier, tried to get the music in folks’s minds and on their telephones earlier and provides away slightly extra of the grasp content material than we’d have 5 years in the past.”
Lauren Daigle
Jeremy Cowart
A brand new crop of younger expertise — who’re additionally social media natives — contains 29-year-old Forrest Frank, 21-year-old Josiah Queen and 24-year-old Seph Schlueter. Frank’s “Good Day” and Schlueter’s “Counting My Blessings” every reached No. 2 on the Scorching Christian Songs chart, with the previous making its approach into the higher echelons of Spotify’s Viral 50 chart this 12 months. And Queen’s “The Prodigal” was within the high 15 on the Christian Airplay chart. All three are nominees for brand new artist of the 12 months on the Gospel Music Affiliation’s Dove Awards in October.
Queen’s debut album, additionally named The Prodigal, and Frank’s Baby of God each debuted at No. 1 on the High Christian Albums chart in July and August, respectively, and the latter ascended to No. 28 on the Billboard 200.
Like artists in different genres, many high sellers in CCM/ gospel make social media key to their advertising and marketing plans. Daigle, 32, has over 5 million month-to-month Spotify listeners, and movies of live performance moments, shared on TikTok, earn hundreds of thousands of views. Elevation Worship has over 1.9 million TikTok followers, and one March TikTok publish of its hit “Reward” has garnered greater than 19 million views. Brandon Lake, 34, who has over 4 million month-to-month Spotify listeners, has attracted 4.3 million views since posting a TikTok video in July that used his tune “That’s Who I Reward.” And Frank racked up over 9 million views with a video that makes use of his “Good Day.”
“Content material remains to be king,” Holt says. “The artists who’re profitable are the artists who’re essentially the most genuine on social media. Even with Elevation Worship, their content material may be very ‘man on the road,’ very accessible to everybody. I really feel like that has loads to do with the expansion, in addition to followers having perception into artists’ lives. Forrest Frank is nice on social media, and Josiah Queen is admittedly enjoyable — he sort of teaches a grasp class a bit on that. They’ve discovered social media in a really natural approach.”
Not like most genres, CCM/gospel is constructed round a central message quite than a specific sound, permitting for a better vary of musical types, together with the pop of for King & Nation and Frank; Queen’s rustic, singer-songwriter fashion; Tauren Wells’ pop/R&B vibe; and Lecrae’s rap.
“The growth of what Christian and gospel music appears like has helped develop the listenership and, in flip, the consumption of the style,” McCain says. “Artists like Lauren Daigle, NF and Montell Fish began with a Christian listener base and have grown to see success in broader audiences.” She provides that the inclusion of Christian/gospel artists on non-faith-based playlists akin to R&B Weekly, Shine and Contemporary People has additionally helped to increase the style’s attain.
Additionally bolstering CCM/gospel’s presence are plenty of current collaborations with secular artists, together with for King & Nation with Timbaland, TobyMac with Sheryl Crow, Lecrae with John Legend, Anne Wilson with Lainey Wilson, Zach Williams with Dolly Parton and CeCe Winans with Carrie Underwood.
“It’s approach simpler to turn out to be a fan of 1 particular person and switch that fandom to a different, particularly with nice collaborations,” Holt says. “For King & Nation has at all times sort of led the best way within the Christian area, and that basically brings completely different spotlights to the style.”
As streaming consumption and social media promotion of CCM/gospel music have elevated, so has the variety of modern Christian radio stations in the US. In response to stationratings.com, the variety of U.S. stations carrying the modern Christian format rose by 22 from July 2023 to July 2024.
Titan Christian radio chains Okay-LOVE and Air1, that are owned by the non-profit Academic Media Basis (EMF) have greater than 1,000 broadcast indicators. To date this 12 months, the corporate has added greater than a dozen indicators to its fold.
“We’ve seen direct correlations of [streaming] consumption mirror the quantity of viewers we’re getting at radio,” Flynn says of Elevation Worship. “On the high of the radio chart, their tune ‘Reward’ will get an viewers of 10 million per week — that’s an enormous distinction. Let’s say radio doesn’t drive direct streams, which is an argument today. It does drive large consciousness. There’s an intangible with church listeners, worship leaders, folks placing it in Sunday morning [church services] set lists that exponentially develop that attain past radio, however which may have been the primary place they heard it. So [radio]’s an enormous assist for us once we’re making an attempt to get a tune on the market.”
“The songs popping out of our neighborhood proceed to affect our viewers, not solely throughout all digital platforms however on terrestrial radio to over 30 million weekly listeners,” Gospel Music Affiliation president Jackie Patillo mentioned in an announcement offered to Billboard. “Individuals are hungry for a message that encourages and conjures up.”
Progress in streaming, social media and radio attain in the end affect artists’ touring. Elevation Worship bought out its spring Elevation Nights ’24 Tour earlier than it started, averaging 11,600 tickets bought every night time. In the meantime, Holt says Daigle’s Kaleidoscope Tour has additionally seen progress in ticket gross sales.
“It’s a really completely different market now for ticket shopping for, post-pandemic, with a number of excursions out. There’s a whole lot of competitors,” Holt says. “However our ticket gross sales have grown this 12 months, and we’re again to our pre-pandemic numbers, which has been thrilling to see.”
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