Year-round, Finney Media tests CCM music across the United States. So, we get a view on how listener tastes change over time. We thought it would be fun and helpful to give you a look at the top Female Artists, which we reviewed in April, Male Artists in MAY, and Top Groups in June. This month, we bring all three of those rankers together into one big Top 10 CCM Artists, based on the latest research of library songs from across the country.* Here they are:
| 10. (tied) Elevation Worship |
| 10. (tied) Big Daddy Weave |
| 8. (tied) Newsboys |
| 8. (tied) Zach Williams |
| 7. Third Day |
| 6. Lauren Daigle |
| 5. Toby Mac |
| 4. Jeremy Camp |
| 3. Chris Tomlin |
| 2. MercyMe |
| 1. Casting Crowns |
We’ve been doing these rankers for quite a few years, and Chris Tomlin has finished at the top every year for the past ten years or so, often by a wide margin over no. 2. This year, though, we have a new no. 1 CCM Artist: Casting Crowns.
Chris’s songs still score very well. And we recommend that you make his songs from over the years a part of a rich CCM library.
This year, though, with almost 20 years of hits, Casting Crowns grabs the top spot! Many of their songs still score really well, from older cuts like Voice Of Truth and Praise You In This Storm to more recent smashes like Nobody.
And MercyMe, continuing to turn out one great song after another, is a close no. 2. I Can Only Imagine still tests great, so does Greater and a whole lot of other songs from their past 20+ years.
Next month. The Top Five Reasons CCM Listeners Listen. We do an encore presentation from the 2021 Why Listen Survey, always a great reminder of why listeners listen. If we’ll listen to them, and respond, we’ll achieve more hearts, more deeply.
*We used a weighted scoring system – higher scoring songs mean higher weighting. All scores come from the past few months of nationwide testing.
