The Top Buzzworthy Praise and Worship Songs

Every six months Christian Copyright Licensing, Inc. (CCLI)—a copyright permissions service for Christian worship songs—releases the results of its survey of the top worship songs for the previous time period. You can find the Top 25 results here.

I scour these lists and I put them through a series of tests to craft an altogether different list—the most buzzworthy songs of that time period. That is, those songs which increased the greatest use during that time. These were the songs that most worship leaders added to their repertoires during that time frame.

If your church worship team disregards contemporary songs, or if you eschew them in your own personal walk, then you will not care for such a list. But if your are constantly on the lookout for such songs for either your personal walk, your youth group, etc., it can prove very beneficial.

Furthermore, I have updated my Spotify playlist for contemporary praise songs, to include these songs. For the most part, I have striven to include covers of these songs, not the originals, so to find examples of the most naturalistic approaches to these songs, and not those which are inundated by professional tinkering, so to maximize radio friendliness. I want to find those songs which will work best for my musical instruments, not a concert.

Lastly, a few quick comments on these results:

First, I find it most interesting that two of the most added songs to worship leaders’ repertoires are versions of the Apostles Creed (This I Believe from Hillsong and We Believe from The Newsboys). Are contemporary praise musicians beginning to incorporate liturgical elements into their services? Or are they tired of referencing some of the same lyrical motifs that have been around for awhile? I don’t know, but I strike this as a positive trend.

Second, I note that David Crowder gets the award for ancient hymn rediscovery for this go-around. Crowder searched his hymnals and pulled out “Come Ye Disconsolate.” His rewriting of that hymn is “Come As You Are,” which is one of the great discoveries of this period. With this, Cornerstone, and Broken Vessels, the act of refurbishing an old hymn for new audiences will not go away. My contention is that this is one approach that one does not need a contemporary praise and worship industry for.

Now without further ado, here are the results of the survey:

#3. Cornerstone by {Liljero, Eric/Morgan, Reuben/Myrin, Jonas/Mote, Edward/Bradbury, William Batchelder}. Chords|Video.
#14. Holy Spirit by {Torwalt, Bryan/Torwalt, Katie}. Chords|Video.
#19. This I Believe (The Creed) by {Crocker, Matt\Fielding, Ben}. Chords|Video.
#20. Whom Shall I Fear (God Of Angel Armies) by {Tomlin, Chris/Cash, Ed/Cash, Scott}. Chords|Video.
#22. Open Up The Heavens by {Andrews, Meredith/Ingram, Jason/Garrard, Stuart/Rozier, Andi/McDonald, James}. Chords|Video.
#23. Alive by {King, Aodhan\Pappas, Alexander}. Chords|Video.
#30. Great Are You Lord by {Ingram, Jason\Leonard, David\Jordan, Leslie}. Chords|Video.
#32. Christ Is Enough by {Morgan, Reuben\Myrin, Jonas}. Chords|Video.
#44. We Believe by {Hooper, Matthew\Fike, Richie\Ryan, Travis}. Chords|Video.
#45. Only King Forever by {Brown, Chris\Furtick, Steven\Brock, Mack\Joye, Wade}. Chords|Video.
#54. My Heart Is Yours by {Ingram, Jason\Stanfill, Kristian\Carson, Daniel\Weeden, Winfield Scott\Younker, Brett\Van DeVenter, Judson Wheeler}. Chords|Video.
#55. Wake by {Davies, Joel\Hobbs, Hannah\Pappas, Alexander}. Chords|Video.
#56. Sinking Deep by {Davies, Joel\King, Aodhan}. Chords|Video.
#58. The Lord Our God by {Ingram, Jason\Stanfill, Kristian}. Chords|Video.
#66. Relentless by {Crocker, Matt\Houston, Joel}. Chords|Video.
#69. Broken Vessels (Amazing Grace) by {Houston, Joel\Myrin, Jonas}. Chords|Video.
#74. Come As You Are by {Maher, Matt\Crowder, David\Glover, Ben}. Chords|Video.
#75. I Surrender by {Crocker, Matt}. Chords|Video.
#76. You Make Me Brave by {Cook, Amanda}. Chords|Video.
#78. Anchor by {Fielding, Ben\Ussher, Dean}. Chords|Video.
#89. Only Your Love by {Ingram, Jason\Jobe, Kari\Davis, Amy\Davis, Ben}. Chords|Video.
#95. He Is Faithful by {Torwalt, Bryan/Torwalt, Katie}. Chords|Video.
#96. I Am by {Cash, Ed\Crowder, David}. Chords|Video.
#108. It Is Well by {Bliss, Philip Paul\DiMarco, Kristene\Spafford, Horatio Gates}. Chords|Video.
#111. Found In You by {Baloche, Paul\Ingram, Jason\Rozier, Andi}. Chords|Video.

It is my hope that you can discover the best songs for your needs, that can help assist your group in worship in both Spirit and in truth.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Right now I am in the process of crafting an online course for helping pursue the New Evangelization. If you have a few minutes, could you complete a survey? In a few weeks, your name could be among five winners who would get my complete music collection for free. Thank you sooo much!