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The 25 Most Sung Worship Songs in American Churches

Orginally published on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 at 11:42 AM
by Todd Rhoades

Here are the current most-sung worship songs in today's US churches. This list was compiled in February of this year from CCLI reports. Take a look and see if there are some that are new to you. I'd be interested in hearing which songs you love and why (and which songs you don't sing in your church and why). Here's the list...

1 Here I Am To Worship—Hughes, Tim
2 Open The Eyes Of My Heart—Baloche, Paul
3 Blessed Be Your Name—Redman, Beth \ Redman, Matt
4 Come Now Is The Time To Worship—Doerksen, Brian
5 Shout To The Lord—Zschech, Darlene
6 Lord I Lift Your Name On High—Founds, Rick
7 Forever—Tomlin, Chris
8 God Of Wonders—Byrd, Marc \ Hindalong, Steve
9 You Are My King—Foote, Billy
10 How Great Is Our God—Tomlin, Chris \ Reeves, Jesse \ Cash, Ed
11 You’re Worthy Of My Praise—Ruis, David
12 Breathe—Barnett, Marie
13 Holy Is The Lord—Tomlin, Chris \ Giglio, Louie
14 Trading My Sorrows—Evans, Darrell
15 The Heart Of Worship—Redman, Matt
16 You Are My All In All—Jernigan, Dennis
17 We Fall Down—Tomlin, Chris
18 Draw Me Close—Carpenter, Kelly
19 Lord Reign In Me—Brown, Brenton
20 I Give You My Heart—Morgan, Reuben
21 Better Is One Day—Redman, Matt
22 Above All LeBlanc,—Lenny \ Baloche, Paul
23 I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever—Smith, Martin
24 Hallelujah—Brown, Brenton \ Doerksen, Brian
25 I Love You Lord—Klein, Laurie

What?  No Crowder?!

What’s on your top five list right now?  And what are your bottom five worship songs of all time?  (Besides “Kumbayah” and “Pass it On")?


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 TRACKBACKS: (0) There are 62 Comments:

  • Posted by

    We do pretty much all of these in my church except for a small handful.  #22 ("Above All") however is one that I have had many requests for and have always chosen not to do because of the last line of the song. It says “You took the fall and thought of me above all”. I don’t know- I’ve always held that Jesus thought of His Father’s will above all… I appreciate the sentiment of the song, I’m just not sure that it’s totally accurate.
    Crowder’s too much of a visionary for the church yet…

  • Posted by

    Gee, Todd....I always liked Pass it On. Our youth group always sang it .

  • Posted by Jeff M. Miller

    I lead all of those at our church, except for Hallelujah. It just never caught on with our crowd. We do some Crowder too. What’s up with no Crowder??!!

    The top of my list is Blessed Be Your Name by Matt Redman. The Sunday I taught it to the crowd, I happened to look back at one of our dear ladies who’s daughter had just been murdered earlier in the week. She is one of our most faithful servants, and even in the middle of loss and tragedy she came to worship. When we sang the line “You give and take away, my heart will choose to say, ‘Lord, blessed be Your name,’” she totally broke down. A few weeks later, she came to me and told me how much she needed to hear those words right at that moment. I will always remember her and her testimony of worship every time I hear the song.

  • Posted by Daniel

    Brice, I’m totally with you on the whole “Above All” thing… whenever I’m in a place that sings that song, I can’t choke that line out.  As good-hearted as the intent may be, the song reeks of excessive (viz. non-biblical) individualism (as far as I’m concerned).

  • Posted by

    “Blessed Be Your Name” is top of my list too.  It gives me a chance to think peacefully about our son who was stillborn in 2003.  I heard in Bible college that if we preach to hurting people, we’ll never lack an audience.  I believe that the same principle can apply to music, especially because music makes such an emtional connection to people.  Yes, I realize we sing in church to worship, but it can serve other purposes as well.

  • Posted by

    “Blessed Be Your Name” is certainly one of the more powerful songs in the church today. I think Redman’s new song from the Passion 06 CD “You Never Let Go” has that same great message, but it may not be as singable for the church.

    I was wondering from you all, what challenges do you face when you teach new songs to your congregation? Do they generally enjoy new material or is it more difficult to get people engaged in them?

  • Posted by eric

    I guess the words to “Above All” could also be in how you interpret that last line and where you lay the emphasis:

    you thought of me above all (else)

    or

    You thought of me.
    (You are) Above All.

    The problem with poetry!

  • Posted by Daniel

    Eric, yours is a poetic interpretation I had thought of before to explain the odd phrase… And to be honest, I think it’s probably what was intended.  However, two points: it doesn’t sound right when it’s sung (I think many people take it to mean “thought of me above all"--rather than “thought of me, Above All"--where ‘above all’ is a name of God), and even if we interpret it this second way, it still puts the focus way more on the individual than it should be (Jesus is dying on the cross thinking about me--rather than, oh, say, ‘ouch this hurts’, or even ‘I can do this, the redemption of Israel and the whole world is at hand’).  It’s a reflection of the “I need to be a precious snowflake” mentality.  Not that people aren’t unique, it’s just an odd focus for a song supposedly about God.
    Enough said.
    I whole-heartedly agree with others here about “blessed be your name”.  Great song!

  • Posted by

    We nixed the song “Blessed Be Your Name”.

    Although I appreciate the expression of saying that no matter what is happening I will give God praise, I believe it is not accurate scripturally to say “You give and take away”. 

    I know that those words are in the Bible and were spoken by Job in the middle of tragedy.  But that doesn’t mean it is how God thinks or deals with his people.

    According to Luke 4:7 “If you will worship me, all will be yours”.  Unfortunately those words were said by Satan not God.  All scripture is given by God, but we have to understand who is saying what.

    Just my two cents....

  • Posted by

    P.S. I wrote my response to the article before reading everyone else’s reply.  (My bad.  I repent.)

    I am glad that the song is able to bring healing.  Isn’t that what we’re all trying to do?  Some of my most intimate times with God have been when I came in the middle of my circumstance and worshipped Him.  I truly appreciate that!

    BTW....  Crowder?  How about no Israel Houghton?  Now that’s a shame!

  • Posted by eric

    I know it is misunderstood poetically. I would hope, though, that the message of the rest of the song and good bibilcal teaching wold help the people put this into context. I would also think that a knowledgeable worship leader would lead an not just sing; that they would explain a song (albeit briefly) to the congregation.

    It is like when people say, “Worship choruses are so theologically thin!” Yes, may be an individual song fails to explain ever aspect of a particular doctrine, but that one song, which highlights a particular aspect, is part of an entire service.

    I know I am stretching things for some people. I don’t accept every worship song as valid either. Just offering an alternative point of view. I think sometimes the left brain has dominated theological discussioin and expression. I fail, often, to recognize the poetic and artistic. But, again, not to condone bad theology.

  • Posted by

    No Israel Houghton, No Crowder, No Jeff Deyo, and not as much Hillsong as I would have thought.
    Bottom of my list I think is called A Mighty Fortress is Our God.  There is a line in there that says “...a bulwark never failing...” If I need to sing with a dictionary in my hand, I don’t think I want to sing at all.

  • Posted by

    23 I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever—Smith, Martin

    How many of you had to have conversations over whether or not you could sing, “Oh, I feel like dancing. It’s foolishness I know?” I know several churches who allow that song to be sung just not that verse. Something about being Baptist… Southern ones at that. Our current church allows it… Only in the 2nd worship service I believe.

    Interestingly enough? Our 2nd and 3rd worship services resemble that list to a degree. The 2nd closer than the 3rd. The 1st? Not at all. Nada. Zip. We’re praying for whomever God is bringing to our church as the Minister of Music or whatever the position is titled.

    What’s so cool about most of these songs? They’re songs our sons hear on Sunday mornings and as we go about our day-to-day. Talk about “Pass It On!” Even cooler when they sing along with them not caring who is listening at all.

  • Posted by Jeff

    Yeah, Why haven’t any of MY songs made the list?  I mean, I sing ‘em in the shower loud enough for eveyone else to hear…
    What gives, with such an exclusive list?

  • Posted by

    I like most of these songs.  W sing most of them.  I don’t care for Above All much, but not because of the last line.  I just don’t like the tune.

    About the last line.  God was thinking of us when he sent his son and I think in his obedients to the Father, he was thinking of us as well.  Sorry Daniel, but I don’t think the song reeks of excessive (viz. non-biblical) individualism.  When Christ was going to the cross he saw me and you and all of humanity.  He could have quit, but he saw us and continued on until the work was finished.

    My thoughts.

    Ed.

  • Posted by

    #10 “How Great Is Our God” Hands Down!

    This is a great worship song.  Was thinking the other day as we drove in the car, here we are (my family) all singing along with Casting Crowns.  Everyone was enjoying the music and the words are great, I thought how when great it was for our family could come together around some music we all loved!

    Blessings,
    Al

  • Posted by

    Jeff,

    Just give it some time… look what happened for Kid Rock! grin

    Al

  • Posted by

    I respect the things Ed shared about “Above All”, but I have the exact opposite thought. Before Christ went to the cross, it appeared that it was too much for Him to bear and He even prayed that “if it is possible, let this cup pass from me”. But then He said that all important line “yet not My will, but Your will be done”.

    I don’t think that the cross was about the redemption of man- I think that that was just the outcome. I think the cross was about God’s glory. God created us to worship Him along with the rest of creation, we made a mess out of life, and Christ paid the penalty of that mess allowing us to return to being the type of worshippers that God desires. My point is that in the end, I believe that God cared that His creation worship Him above all.

    I say all of this realizing that I know amazing little about all of these concepts, so I can’t even ascribe 2 cents worth to it.

  • Posted by

    Al, I agree that Tomlin’s “How Great Is Our God” is one of the better songs written for the church lately. I’m not one who feels that we need to remove personal pronouns from worship language (you’d have to dismiss the Psalms if you believed that) but I like this song because it so keenly focusses on God’s glory. There’s nothing about us in the song- just God’s grandeur.

  • Posted by

    Here are a A couple of “old” songs I still love to sing:

    “He is good.”

    “Oh the glory of his presence”

    “Jesus we crown you with praise”

    And a real old one written by Charles Wesley:
    “Amazing Love” one of the best songs ever written.

  • Posted by Andy McAdams

    Hey, they forgot, “Jesus Take the Wheel”.  (-:  Well...I wish I could to.  ENOUGH ALREADY!

  • Posted by Rob G

    Just to say that for me, Matt and Beth Redman’s “Blessed be Your name” is one of the key songs in the church today.

    I do understand the point, though, about “You give and take away” not necessarily being theologically correct, but rather Job’s heart cry in distress. I heard an excellent Bible teacher make this point - he suggested that a more theologically sound statement would be “You give and you allow to be taken away”. (Just try working that into a song!)

    Finally, being English, it was with some pride that I read this list and saw the number of British authors on it. It surprised me to learn that even in America, where we Brits often have the impression that everything is thought to be bigger and better, so many of our songs are being sung.

    Rob

  • Posted by

    Hey, what “hymns” are you guys still singing regularly?

    We sing hymns like “How Great Thou Art”, “All Creatures of our God and King”, “It Is Well with my Soul”, etc.

  • Posted by Rob Grayson

    Favourite hymns in the last two to three years in our home church in the UK have been:

    - O for a thousand tongues
    - Crown Him with many crowns (one of my personal favourites)
    - Jesus the name high over all
    - How great Thou art (our worship pastor recently put this to a great new melody)
    - It is well with my soul

    Rob

  • UH,,, :::!!!!

    We don’t sing ANY of these in our praise and worship. 

    Obviously, this is a cultural thing.  Cause they OBVIOUSLY missed the hood side of town.

    Every now and then I hear these at a multicultural meeting when folks want to “get together” and everyone assumes we like ‘em

    Don’t get me wrong - they are ok if your beat is 1/3 but just don’t hit it if not.

    In Him,

    JMb <><

    Bishop James ‘I Feel God’ Brown

    http://www.1000churches.org

    http://www.nolack.com

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