When Luminate reported the fastest growing music genres in the first half of 2024 (through the week of May 30), contemporary Christian music (CCM)/gospel unexpectedly entered the top five. When breaking down total consumption — track-equivalent albums, stream-equivalent albums and audio-on-demand — the genre grew 8.9%, more than double the overall industry growth rate of 3.9% for the same period in 2023.
The rise of CCM/gospel is even stronger on Spotify. Platform representatives say the genre has grown 30% in the United States and more than 30% worldwide in the past year. In the last five years, the species has increased by 50% in the state and by 60% globally.
“Just last March, the Christian and gospel genre had its biggest streaming month on Spotify ever,” he says. Maritza “Ritz” McCainSpotify senior editor, Christian and gospel.
McCain also points to the global reach of CCM/gospel, noting that while the United States is the largest market for Christian music, global consumption extends to markets that include Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and the Philippines. It also cites promising growth in markets such as India, Indonesia and Germany.
According to Luminate, the top five CCM/gospel acts for the first half of 2024 were Elevation Worship, Lauren Daigle, Phil Wickham, Hillsong Worship and Brandon Lake. Elevation Worship's “Praise,” featuring Lake, Chris Brown — a different Chris Brown than the “Run It” singer — and Chandler Moore is CCM's biggest hit of 2024 so far, spending 24 weeks atop the Billboard's Hot Christian Songs chart.
Cole Flynnhead of marketing at Elevation Worship Records, attributes “six or seven” different factors to the shift. First, the consumption and promotion of CCM by a new generation of social media-savvy fans on these platforms attracts new listeners.
“This whole generation has grown up with Spotify and Apple Music and being able to access any kind of music they want to listen to at any time,” he says. Leigh Holt by Hsquared Management, which manages Daigle and Riley Clemmons; “The barriers have been broken. There are more people who can say, “These are the ways I want to express my faith.”
According to Luminate Insights, the share of listeners who are millennials and younger grew from 39% of the genre's total audience in 2022 to 45% in 2024. Additionally, the number of hours CCM/gospel fans spent with music each month increased from 47.9 hours to 56.8 so far in 2024 — a 19% increase.
“Worship music skews younger, older, and listener,” says Flynn. “People in their 20s and 30s listen to Elevation Worship, while a typical Christian radio audience might be a little older.” He adds that this development has necessitated changes in marketing strategies for Elevation Worship, as it has with other CCM/gospel artists. “We've released music a little earlier, we've teased it a little earlier, we've tried to get the music in their heads and on their phones earlier and give a little more of the mainstream content than we would have five years ago.”
Lauren Daigle
Jeremy Cowart
A new crop of young talent – also native to social media – includes 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” each reached No. 2 on the Hot Christian Songs chart, with the former making its way into the upper echelons of Spotify's Viral 50 chart this year. And Queen's “The Prodigal” was in the top 15 of the Christian Airplay chart. All three are nominated for New Artist of the Year at the Gospel Music Association's Dove Awards in October.
Queen's debut album, also named The ProdigaI, and of Frank Child of God Both debuted at No. 1 on the Top Christian Albums chart in July and August, respectively, and the latter peaked at No. 28 on the Billboard 200.
Like artists in other genres, many top sellers in CCM/gospel make social media key to their marketing plans. Daigle, 32, has more than 5 million monthly listeners on Spotify and videos of concert moments, shared on TikTok, garner millions of views. Elevation Worship has over 1.9 million TikTok followers, and a March TikTok post of the hit “Praise” has garnered more than 19 million views. Brandon Lake, 34, who has more than 4 million monthly listeners on Spotify, has attracted 4.3 million views since posting a TikTok video in July using his song “That's Who I Praise.” And Frank racked up over 9 million views with a video using “Good Day.”
“Content is still king,” says Holt. “The artists who win are the artists who are the most authentic on social media. Even with Elevation Worship, their content is very “man in the street”, very accessible to everyone. I feel like that has a lot to do with growth, as well as the fans knowing about the artists' lives. Forrest Frank is great on social media and Josiah Queen is really fun – he kind of teaches a master class on it. They've taken to social media in a very organic way.”
Unlike most genres, CCM/gospel is based on a central message rather than a specific sound, allowing for a wider range of musical styles, including the pop of King & Country and Frank. Rustic Queen singer-songwriter style. Pop/R&B vibe by Tauren Wells. and Lecrae's rap.
“The expansion of what Christian and gospel music sounds like has helped grow audiences and, in turn, consumption of the genre,” McCain says. “Artists like Lauren Daigle, NF and Montell Fish started with a Christian listener base and have grown to see success with wider audiences.” He adds that the inclusion of Christian/gospel artists in non-faith-based playlists such as R&B Weekly, Shine and Fresh Folk has also helped expand the genre's reach.
Also bolstering CCM/gospel's presence are a number of recent collaborations with secular artists, including King & Country 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 Bushes Between Trees.
“It's much easier to become a fan of one person and transfer that admiration to another, especially with great partnerships,” says Holt. “For King & Country has always been a pioneer in the Christian space and this really brings different spotlights to the genre.”
As streaming consumption and promotion of CCM/gospel music on social media has increased, so has the number of contemporary Christian radio stations in the United States. According to stationrations.com, the number of US stations carrying the contemporary Christian format increased by 22 from July 2023 to July 2024.
Christian radio chains Titan K-LOVE and Air1, owned by the nonprofit Educational Media Foundation (EMF), have more than 1,000 broadcast signals. So far this year, the company has added more than a dozen brands to its fold.
“We have seen direct correlations of it [streaming] Consumption reflects the amount of radio audience we have,” Flynn says of Elevation Worship. “At the top of the radio chart, their song 'Praise' has an audience of 10 million a week — that's a huge difference. Let's say radio doesn't drive direct streams, which is an argument these days. It drives mass awareness. There is an intangible with church listeners, worship leaders, people who put it on on Sunday morning [church services] here are lists that grow exponentially and reach beyond radio, but that may have been the first place they heard it. So [radio]It's a huge help to us when we're trying to get a song out there.”
“Songs coming out of our community continue to impact our audiences, not only across all digital platforms but also on terrestrial radio to more than 30 million weekly listeners,” Gospel Music Association president. Patio fireplace he said in a statement provided to Bulletin board. “People are hungry for a message that encourages and inspires.”
The growth in streaming, social media, and radio is ultimately impacting artists' tours. Elevation Worship sold out their Elevation Nights '24 spring tour before it even started, with an average of 11,600 tickets sold each night. Meanwhile, Holt says Daigle's Kaleidoscope Tour is also seeing an increase in ticket sales.
“It's a very different market now for ticketing, post-pandemic, with multiple tours. There is a lot of competition,” says Holt. “But our ticket sales are up this year and we're back to our pre-pandemic numbers, which has been exciting to see.”
