The Christian music industry seems to have a beautiful undercurrent of excitement lately! Something special is happening, and many early artists have paved the way for what I believe is exploding today. It reinforces what we yearn for: something beautiful, artistic, courageous, and God-honoring. So many artists that have burst on the scene have been working on this for years and have a story that has led them to this place today. There are many artists I could highlight, but I will select a group that has impacted me for various reasons. I’ve noticed the unique collaborations that have flooded Apple Music and Spotify with Christian artists. I love it! It reminds me of the community of God and how we celebrate one another, not compete. That is what these artists are doing. They work together to produce beautiful music with lyrics that point to Jesus, and the music has an unparalleled depth because their talents are multiplied while working together. Some of my early memories of music are artists like Petra, White Heart, Amy Grant, and Michael Smith. For fun, I need to consider artists my kids would say they remember the most in their childhood! That could be Toby Mac, Steven Curtis Chapman, and for those of you who might remember God Rocks, they were pretty famous in our house!

Bear with me; this is quite an eclectic mix of artists, yet it expresses the wide variety of genres that make up our music industry. There are many missing here that I could add, for now, here are the artists!

We Are Messengers

Zach Williams

Ben Rector

For King and Country

Acoustic Truth

Toby Mac

Red Rocks Worship

Jonathan Ogden

Patrick Mayberry

CAIN

Cliff Cline

Conner Price

Luke Bower

The Gray Havens

Forrest Frank

Pat Barrett

Anne Wilson

Phil Wickham

Brandon Lake

Rend Collective

Joseph O’Brien

Seph Schlueter

Crowder

Coqui

Ellie Holcomb

Ben Fuller

Moriah

Jeremy Camp

Leanna Crawford

Kenzie Cline

Here Be Lions

Brooke Ligertwood

Meghan Woods

Aaron Cole

Skey Petersen

Terrian

Josiah Queen

Gable Price and Friends

Josh Garrels

Jenn Johnson

Patrick Mayberry

Brennly Brown

Moriah

Crowder

I could go on and add many more names. The Christian music industry is bursting at the seams with talent and gusto! If you have not had the opportunity to check out any of these artists, please do. Look up worship lists for 2024, KLOVE award winners, and other ways to find Christian artists!

How can I even think of choosing ONE song to represent my year of listening? Seems impossible right?! As I scrolled through I kept coming back to one song that for me sums up last year. Crowder released the album The Exile and the song I played all the time was (and is!) Somebody Prayed.

Won’t Let Tomorrow is a close second

 

Brooke Ligertwood: Her new album Infinity came out this year and her song He Who Is To Come but, this song is still a favourite of mine – A Thousand Hallelujahs