Christian music is having a moment. In the first half of 2024, it was the fourth fastest-growing music genre, fueled by surprisingly large gains among younger listeners. Millennial and younger listeners represented 39 percent of the genre’s overall audience in 2022, but in 2024, that share is up to 45 percent.
All this might come as a surprise, especially as the dominant narratives about Christianity in the West are declensional (deconstruction, dechurching, secularization, post-Christian, etc.), especially among Gen Z. But the upward trend for Christian music is real, and it’s starting to be noticed by the secular press. Billboard magazine recently published a feature article on Christian music’s “heavenly rise,” noting the growth has been especially pronounced on streaming sites like Spotify (where the genre has experienced 60 percent growth globally over the last five years).
What should we make of this trend? What factors might explain this seemingly counterintuitive rise of contemporary Christian music (CCM) in a secular age? Here are four initial thoughts.
1. CCM has gotten better.
Perhaps the most straightforward explanation for CCM’s growth is that it has just gotten better as a genre. I’ve been around Christian music my whole life (and for the majority of its existence as a subculture), and I’ve seen this quality improvement unfold in real time. Christian music has grown up. It’s not as homogenous, predictable, and cheesy as it once had the reputation of being.
Christian music has grown up. It’s not as homogenous, predictable, and cheesy as it once had the reputation of being.
Of course, excellent Christian music has always existed. But “indie” Christian artists in the ’80s and ’90s—those with more daring artistic inclinations—didn’t have an easy way to gain a large following, since their music purposefully didn’t fit the mold of what Nashville or Christian radio gatekeepers wanted.
But technology has changed the game, giving artists new, organic pipelines (namely social media and streaming platforms) for doing their own thing, in their own way, and still finding large audiences. The Billboard article mentions this dynamic, noting the social media savvy of 2024’s breakout stars Forrest Frank and Josiah Queen, both of whom found success organically on social media before landing on the Billboard charts (and garnering Dove Award nominations for “New Artist of the Year”).
Christian music is better quality today in part because it sounds more authentic and organic rather than formulaic and gatekeeper-approved. Artists like Frank and Queen make the music they love, even if it’s outside the box. Other artists like Jon Guerra, Andy Squyres, or Taylor Leonhardt can reach audiences with the sort of Bob Dylan–esque troubadour lyricism that Christian radio would never touch. Listeners like authenticity, and younger listeners have an ever-more-refined radar to detect the hypocrisy that has been sadly endemic in “Christian pop culture.” Less gatekeeping plus more authenticity is a net win for the overall quality of the genre.
2. Christianity’s global growth brings new artists and audiences.
Globally accessible streaming platforms make the spreading and sharing of music, and the creative collaboration of artists, much easier for the world’s 2.4 billion Christians. Like Christianity generally, there’s no geographic “center” for Christian music. It’s global, and increasingly so. It’s no surprise that Christian music streaming is surging in nations like Brazil, India, South Africa, Indonesia, and the Philippines. That’s where Christianity is growing.
Like Christianity generally, there’s no geographic ‘center’ for Christian music. It’s global, and increasingly so.
In addition to providing new markets of listeners, Christianity’s growth globally has produced a new crop of artists whose work brings beautiful diversity and international flavor to the genre. I’ve celebrated many of these artists over the years at The Gospel Coalition: CityAlight and Tenielle Neda (Australia), Jonathan Ogden (U.K.), Claudia Isaki (France), IMRSQD (Namibia), Limoblaze (Nigeria), Darla Baltazar (Philippines), and many more. Christian music has existed in different countries around the world for a long time, but the streaming era affords new opportunities for exposure and cross-pollination globally.
“CCM” the official industry might still be concentrated in Nashville, but Christian music as a genre exists—and thrives—far beyond America’s Bible belt.
3. Christian music encompasses a diverse array of sounds.
Part of what makes Christian music unique as a genre is that it doesn’t have one “sound” but rather can draw inspiration from almost every existing music genre—from folk to Afrobeats to techno to metal and more. Like Christianity itself, Christian music is transcultural and finds expression in limitless ways. This dynamic is noted in the Billboard article: “Unlike most genres, CCM/gospel is built around a central message rather than a particular sound, allowing for a greater range of musical styles, including the pop of for King & Country and Frank; Queen’s rustic, singer-songwriter style; Tauren Wells’ pop/R&B vibe; and Lecrae’s rap.”
This stylistic diversity means more music lovers can find something to like. If you like lo-fi, there are plenty of options for you. If you’re into country music or hip-hop, Christian artists in those genres abound. The genre diversity makes it fun to create topical playlists like “8 Psalms, 7 Ways,” which includes musical settings of biblical psalms in a dizzying array of styles, from choral to Celtic to cowboy folk. Christian music is eclectic and full of surprises. This is a strength in the playlist-centric contemporary music environment.
Christian music’s stylistic diversity means more music lovers can find something to like.
Another part of Christian music’s diversity—and growth—is captured in a distinction Lecrae makes between music made “from the church for the church” and music “from the church to the world.” Music in the latter category is often less explicitly Christian but comes from artists (like Tori Kelly, Surfaces, or Needtobreathe) who don’t hide their faith. This music may reach scores of nonbelievers, improving their perceptions of Christian artistry and leading them to be more open to enjoying explicitly Christian releases by these artists.
4. Listeners are hungry for hope.
I suspect another reason Christian music is growing in appeal is that so much of the contemporary music world feels creatively and commercially stagnant. The “meh” climate of pop music—an era when promotion cycles are shorter and would-be tentpole releases are forgotten as quickly as they arrive—opens a door for audience attention to explore elsewhere. So much of pop music generally feels lifeless and uninspired, bogged down by political angst, by tired attempts at transgression, or by the abiding acedia of a decadent culture.
Maybe there’s a growing hunger in this culture for less depressing, less navel-gazing music and more hope-filled music anchored in bigger truths. Maybe there’s a growing spiritual curiosity as more and more young people grow weary of the frothy emptiness (heavy on vibes, light on meaning) and diminishing returns of love-yourself anthems of so-called empowerment.
Music that’s about nothing but meme-friendly weirdness or vibey aesthetics can only go so far in filling a spiritual void. I think there’s a stirring hunger among young people for music that isn’t just an eternal recurrence of breakup songs set to bubbly ’80s synth or Bon Iver woodsy-folk melancholia. They want substance, hope, purpose, and joy. They want songs that call us to a more interesting and fulfilling place than what goes on within the claustrophobic buffered self.
Christian music offers counterprogramming that doesn’t diminish the pain and friction of life but calls us to a higher beauty and perspective. And growing numbers of younger people desire this. Who knows, maybe the expanding popularity of Christian music in the United States is another indicator that the long secular trajectory here might be slowing—or even reversing. Maybe the Christian music upward trend is related to the fact that we’re starting to see the rise of religious “nones” level off. Time will tell.
For now, the thriving Christian music scene is worth celebrating. And the good stuff being created by believers around the world is worth sharing.
The Gospel Coalition