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February 2024: Top Five Testing Songs from Each of the Last Ten Years

Finney Media does music research every year on hundreds of songs in multiple markets across North America . . . and every year, the numbers on which songs from the past are the most popular with Christian Music Radio listeners changes. From our research during the past year, here are the Top Five Testing Songs released during each of the past ten years: 

2023

1. Elevation Worship/Same God
2. Katy Nichole/God Is In This Story
3. Micah Tyler/I See Grace
4. Brandon Lake/Gratitude
5. MercyMe/Then Christ Came
 2022

1. We The Kingdom/Miracle Power
2. Katy Nichole/In Jesus’ Name (God of Possible)
3. Josh Baldwin/There Is Freedom
4. Matthew West/Me On Your Mind
5. Cece Winans/I’ve Got Joy
2021

1. Anne Wilson/My Jesus
2. Zach Williams/Less Like Me
3. Phil Wickham/House Of The Lord
4. Casting Crowns/Scars In Heaven
5. Lauren Daigle/Hold On To Me
 2020

1. Elevation Worship/Graves Into Gardens
2. Kari Jobe/The Blessing
3. Jordan St. Cyr/Fires
4. Phil Wickham/Battle Belongs
5. Jeremy Camp/Keep Me In The Moment
2019

1. Matthew West/The God Who Stays
2. We The Kingdom/Holy Water
3. Michael W. Smith/Waymaker (ft. Vanessa Campagna)
4. Zach Williams/There Was Jesus
5. Johnathan & Melissa Helser /Raise A Hallelujah
 2018

1. Lauren Daigle/You Say
2. Josh Baldwin/Stand In Your Love
3. For King & Country/God Only Knows
4. Cory Asbury/Reckless Love
5. Hillsong Worship/Who You Say I Am
2017

1. Crowder/All My Hope
2. Passion/Glorious Day
3.Tenth Avenue North/Control
4. Ryan Stevenson/The Gospel
5. Lauren Daigle/O’Lord
 2016

1. MercyMe/Even If
2. Ryan Stevenson f/Gabe Real/Eye Of The Storm
3. Hillsong/What A Beautiful Name
4. Chris Tomlin/Good Good Father
5. Big Daddy Weave/The Lion & The Lamb
2015

1. Bethel Music/No Longer Slaves
2. One Sonic Society/Great Are You Lord
3. Big Daddy Weave/My Story
4. Jeremy Camp/Same Power
5. Kristian Stanfill/Even So Come
 2014

1. MercyMe/Greater
2. Francesca Battistelli/Holy Spirit
3. Lincoln Brewster/There Is Power
4. MercyMe/Flawless
5. Citizen Way/Evidence

Check out which titles are on this list that you may have taken out over the years . . . and consider if they should be a part of your station now. 

Coming in March: The latest on the most popular artists with CCM listeners across the United States.

Happy New Year! 

Some thoughts from PASTOR CHUCK SWINDOLL for inspiration as we head into 2024: 

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. 

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.  

The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. 

I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it.  

Scripture provides the amen, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8 ESV) 

 

as seen in the 2023 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey included amost 15,000 respondents from three different formats: Music stations, Music/Teaching stations, All-Teaching stations, and Programs.

One of the challenges we face and opportunities we have, unlike a church which is focused on one particular denomination, is that our radio stations and programs are multi-denominational. They are heard by people from many denominations. In our nationwide survey, we asked about denominational affiliation. Among respondents from CCM stations, here are the Top Five Denominations:

Top Five Denominations among CCM Listeners

1. Non-denominational/Bible/Community 30%
2. Baptist 30%
3. Lutheran 10%
4. Pentecostal/Charismatic 10%
5. Catholic 7%

The first four denominations comprise 80 percent. The other 20 percent are led by Catholics at 7 percent  which reminds us thatmany denominations have different ways of worship and different words they use in their worship and ways they communicate with each other.

For us to reach them and perhaps many who haven’t even given us a pre-set yet, we’ll need to focus on using words and concepts that many or most understand.

A story to help illustrate: Recently a friend from our Bible Study group pulled me aside after class. She grew up Catholic and is now Baptist. She leads a Bible Study Fellowship class. She’s reads her Bible and pays attention. She was curious about a word that had come up in our group that morning that she didn’t know the meaning of, “liturgy.” I know. I was surprised too. She grew up Catholic but didn’t know the meaning of the words.

But I shouldn’t be surprised because we do research with believers who listen to Christian radio. Many don’t know the meaning of a lot of words/phrases/concepts . . . things you would expect that they know. 

If we’re going to be clear in our communication, we’ll need to consider what our multi-denominational listener, people of all nationsand denominations understands. We need to be Bible-focused and obvious. Clarity and understanding of the Truth is at stake.]

Coming in February: The Top Five Testing Songs from our nationwide research over the past few months from each of the past ten years. You’ll want to be sure to include these songs in your testing and consideration for your library!

as seen in the 2023 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey included almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats: Music/Teaching (Hybrid) stations, All-Teaching stations and Programs, and all-Music stations (CCM).

One of the challenges we face and opportunities we have, unlike a church which is focused on one particular denomination, is that our radio stations and programs are multi-denominational. They are heard by people from many denominations. In our nationwide survey, we asked about denominational affiliation. Among respondents from Hybrid and Teaching stations, here are the Top Five Denominations:

Top Five Denominations (Hybrid Listeners)

1. Non-denominational/Bible/Community 34%
2. Baptist 30%
3. Pentecostal/Charismatic 8%
4. Reformed 5%
5. Presbyterian 5%

Top Five Denominations (Teaching Listeners)

1. Baptist 46%
2. Non-denominational/Bible/Community 27%
3. Pentecostal/Charismatic 7%
4. Lutheran 4%
5. Methodist 4%

The first two denominations on both rankers comprise about 2/3rd of all the respondents. The other 1/3rd are led by Pentecostals.  We can see that many denominations have different ways of worship and different words they use in their worship and ways they communicate with each other.

For us to reach them and perhaps many who haven’t even given us a pre-set yet, we’ll need to focus on using words and concepts that many or most understand.

A story to help illustrate: Recently a friend from our Bible Study group pulled me aside after class. She grew up Catholic and is now Baptist. She leads a Bible Study Fellowship class. She reads her Bible and pays attention. She was curious about a word that had come up in our group that morning that she didn’t know the meaning of, “liturgy.” I know. I was surprised too. She grew up Catholic but didn’t know the meaning.

But I shouldn’t be surprised, because we do research with believers who listen to Christian radio. Many don’t know the meaning of a lot of words/phrases/concepts, even things you would expect that they know.

 

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey consists of almost 15,000 respondents and over a million data points from three different formats Hybrid (Music/Teaching) stations, All-Teaching stations and programs, and CCM Stations.

We asked our respondents about whether or not they gave to the ministry that sent them the survey. And to those who give, we asked about what moved them to make a call, go online, or write a check to make a gift. The Top Five responses from Hybrid (Teaching and Music) and all-Teaching listeners are below. These are the percentage who said that the reason is “very important” to their decision . . . an “inspiration” for their move from listening to giving.

Hybrid

1. Feeling called by God to give 83%
2. I believe in the mission and vision of the ministry 83%
3. Knowing God tells us to support those who ministry to us 63%
4. An emergency need at the ministry 33%
5. A story about someone’s life that was changed through the ministry 31%

Teaching

1. Feeling called by God to give 83%
2. I believe in the mission and vision of the ministry 83%
3. Knowing God tells us to support those who ministry to us 67%
4. An emergency need at the ministry 28%
5. A story about someone’s life that was changed through the ministry 27%

The no. 1 and no. 2 responses are “Feeling called by God to give” and “I believe in the mission and vision of the ministry”. It is so crucial that you communicate clearly and often your mission and vision, both on-air and off-air and especially through listener stories. Your listener/donor is passionate about listening, passionate about helping. Making sure that theme is at the center of your giving communication is crucial.

And finally, help your team understand your why and be able to articulate it quickly and clearly.

Coming in December: The Top Five Denominations represented among Hybrid and Teaching respondents to the 2023 Why Listen? Survey. If you believe making your message multi-denominationally accessible is crucial, get ready to tackle how to talk to all five in ways all of those listeners can understand.

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey consists of almost 15,000 respondents and over a million data points from three different formats: Music stations, Music/Teaching stations, All-Teaching stations, and programs.

We asked our respondents about whether or not they gave to the ministry that sent them the survey. And to those who give, we asked what moved them to make a call, go online, or write a check to make a gift. The Top Five responses from CCM listeners are below. These are the percentage who said that reason is “very important” to their decision . . . an “inspiration” for their move from listening to giving.

1. Feeling called by God to give 87%
2. I believe in the mission and vision of the ministry 85%
3. Knowing God tells us to support those who ministry to us 64%
4. An emergency need at the ministry 38%
5. A story about someone’s life that was changed through the ministry 36%

Note the no. 1 and no. 2 responses, “Feeling called by God to give” and “I believe in the mission and vision of the ministry”. It’s so crucial that you communicate clearly and often your mission and vision both on air and off air, and especially through listener stories. Your listener/donor is passionate about listening and helping. Making sure that theme is at the center of your giving communication is crucial.

And most of all, help your team understand your why and be able to articulate it quickly and clearly.

Coming in January: The Top Five Denominations represented among CCM respondents in the 2023 Why Listen? Survey. If you believe making your message multi-denominationally accessible is crucial, get ready to tackle how to talk to all five in ways all those listeners can understand.

In 2023’s Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey, there were almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats – Music/Teaching (Hybrid) stations, all-Teaching stations & programs, and CCM stations.  

The centerpiece of the survey is the reasons Christian radio listeners listen. It turns out that listeners who came to Music/Teaching (Hybrid) stations and all-Teaching stations and programs listen for reasons similar to CCM station listeners. But there are a few reasons that are different. Here are the percentages, by format, of respondents who said that’s a Main Reason they listen. 

Music/Teaching (Hybrid) Station Respondents 

1. It helps you grow spiritually 85%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day 84%
3. You want to be encouraged 73%
4. You like worshipful Christian music 71%
5. It helps you understand the Bible better 71%

All-Teaching Station Respondents 

1. It helps you grow spiritually 92%
2. It helps you understand the Bible better 85%
3. It helps you worship God throughout the day 81%
4. You want to hear sermons 77%
5. You want to be encouraged 71%

CCM Station Respondents 

1. You like worshipful Christian music 93%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day 91%
3. You want to be encouraged 82%
4. It helps you grow spiritually 76%
5. It’s safe for you and your family to listen to 67%

The answers in bold are the ones not common to all three formats. The ones not in bold made the Top Five Main Reasons for each of the formats. A few observations: 

  • It makes sense that “I like the worshipful Christian music” would not show up as a top Main Reason for Teaching Station/Program respondents since those stations don’t play any music. 
  • A more Bible-focused and evangelism reason shows up higher for the stations that lean toward Teaching programs. “It helps you understand the Bible better” shows up much more strongly than that reason did with music listeners. 
  • We believe that the biggest headlines are: When you look at the Main Reasons that are common to all three formats “It helps me worship God throughout the day”, “It helps me grow spiritually” and “I want to be encouraged” for our Hybrid and Teaching station and program listener, it’s Spiritual Growth. For the all-Music listener, it’s Spiritual Encouragement.

Coming in December: The Top Five Reasons Christian Radio Listeners Give. 

Is your radio station focused and on a Biblical mission of reaching more people for Jesus with spiritual truth and encouragement? 

Then it’s important that you focus your breaks relentlessly on topics that are already on your listener’s mind and heart. Meet her where she is. 

In our 2023 Finney Media Why Listen® nationwide Christian radio survey, almost 50 percent of respondents indicated they are very likely or somewhat likely to tune away or turn the radio off when we talk about a topic they are not interested in. If you’re trying to grow listenership, that’s a big incentive to focus on topics of higher interest. 

For Christian radio listeners, it’s hard to find topics of lower interest than sports. Even when your team is winning in the playoffs.  

As I write this morning, the Texas Rangers, my hometown DFW baseball team have surprised the experts by making it to the American League Championship Series. I’m a baseball fan. I’m thrilled! How exciting that they’ll have a chance, for the first time since 2011, to get a shot at going to the World Series! 

It matters to me. But that doesn’t mean it matters to our Christian Radio listener.  

If we want to grow our listenership, we must be disciplined about putting our own interests aside and focusing on our listener’s interests. 

Should a Dallas-Fort Worth Christian Radio Morning Show mention the Rangers going to the playoffs today? Absolutely!  

Should they focus the rest of their show on spiritual encouragement, Scripture, relationships, and other topics of highest interest to the Christian radio listener? Yes! 

To reach more listeners, nothing works quite like getting focused and staying focused on where her head and heart are today.  

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