Christian music is becoming the soundtrack of choice for a wave of young listeners, achieving something few genres are managing in 2025 — market growth.
Luminate, the data firm behind Billboard’s charts, has found that Christian and gospel music are among the fastest-growing genres in the U.S., trailing only rock, Latin and country in streaming popularity.
Most new music has seen a decline in streams this year, but Christian artists have bucked the trend with an 8.9% gain through late May — more than double the industry average growth rate of 4%, Luminate said in its mid-year report.
“The young people that I work with are looking for music they can connect with,” Shannan Baker, senior associate for contemporary worship programs at Baylor University, told The Washington Times. “Connection can happen through relating to an experience that is referenced in the lyrics or resonating with the truths of the song’s message.”
Jaime Marconette, vice president of music insights and industry relations at Luminate, told The Associated Press the credit for Christian and worship music’s success belongs to its streaming potential.
“Christian music is being driven by a younger, streaming-forward fanbase,” Mr. Marconette said.
According to Luminate, streaming makes up 92% of all music consumption in the country. And the rising Christian music audience is 30% millennial and Gen Z, entertained by breakout stars like Forrest Frank, Elevation Worship and Brandon Lake.
“This isn’t just a ripple — it’s a wave,” Lindz West, frontman of the U.K.-based Christian group LZ7, said in an interview with Christianity Today. “Streaming has democratized everything. You don’t need a gatekeeper anymore. If the song is good and the message connects, it can take off anywhere.”
The shifting dynamics of Christian music caught the attention of The Gospel Coalition writer Brett McCracken, who wrote that the genre’s growth “might come as a surprise, especially as the dominant narratives about Christianity in the West are declensional — deconstruction, dechurching, secularization, post-Christian, etc.”
Mr. McCracken hails the genre’s evolution. Today’s Christian music, he argued late last year, no longer sounds like a predictable noise of yesterday’s praise band.
“Christian music has grown up,” he wrote. “It’s not as homogenous, predictable, and cheesy as it once had the reputation of being.”
Much of the growth is occurring without a push from Christian radio channels, according to several reports.
“This is the most exciting time to be in Christian music,” Holly Zabka, president of Provident, a Sony Christian music subsidiary, told Oregon Public Broadcasting. “I don’t think we’ve ever been in this season of opportunity.”
Ms. Baker, the Baylor worship music associate, told The Times that the future of worship music is bright and dynamic.
“I think people will continue to write music that resonates with different church communities,” she said. “Regarding the most popular music that gets radio play, with Forrest Frank’s popularity, I wonder if more artists will start to write in that style.”
And with social media and streaming platforms leading the charge, artists no longer need the blessing of Nashville’s production expertise or Christian radio to gain traction, music critics say.
“Christian music is better quality today in part because it sounds more authentic and organic rather than formulaic and gatekeeper-approved,” Mr. McCracken wrote. “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.’”
Mr. West agrees, telling Christianity Today the success of the genre isn’t just about algorithms or good production. He says it’s about a deeper longing that he sees from the stage when he performs.
“They’re searching,” he said. “We’re in schools, arenas, and festivals where you see it in their faces — this longing for something more than what the world is offering. Hope, faith, even truth.”
• Emma Ayers can be reached at eayers@washingtontimes.com.