Faithlife, the church technology company and makers of Logos Bible Software, today released the 2021 Year-End Song & Sermon Report, revealing last year’s top worship songs and insight into how pastors are providing biblical understanding to cultural topics.
“The 2021 Faithlife data highlights how church leaders are meeting the needs of their congregants and community in another difficult year,” said Vik Rajagopal, CEO of Faithlife. “The trending preaching topics demonstrate that even as the world navigated the challenges of the COVID pandemic, churches delivered God’s truth about the hope found in Jesus.”
Worship Song Trends
The most popular worship song in 2021 was “Build My Life” by Pat Barrett, which was also the top song in 2019 and the second most popular in 2020. “Way Maker” by Sinach, which was the 2020 top song, moved down to the No. 2 spot in 2021, followed by “Great Are You Lord” by All Sons & Daughters as No. 3.
Altogether the average age of the top 20 songs is 11.2 years, driven down by “How Great Thou Art” from 1949. The top 10 songs are even younger with an average age of 8.6 years. The youngest song and only new addition to the list since 2020 is “Graves into Gardens,” written in 2019 by Elevation Worship/Brandon Lake.
The list highlights that hymns are still present in many churches, even if they are sung alongside contemporary songs. Four hymns or retuned hymns are in the top 20 songs – “How Great Thou Art” at No. 13, “Lord I Need You” at No. 14, “Amazing Grace [My Chains Are Gone]” at No. 16, and “Cornerstone” at No. 17.
Preaching Trends
Using data from over 91,000 sermons that were posted to sermons.faithlife.com with author-created tags, Faithlife discovered that while the most common topics in 2021 were similar to those in 2020, including God, Jesus, love, power, faith, and glory, several saw drastic increases in popularity compared to 2020. These include eschatology/resurrection, which was six times more popular, and grace, which was four times more popular, as well as family and children, creation/renewal, philosophy, revival, cults, compromise, persecution and hospitality.
Faithlife’s report also includes the top trending passages, which are:
● Appreciation of the Mystery: Ephesians 3:14–21 (26% increase)
● Christ Prays for His Disciples: John 17:6–19
● Christ Answers Philip: John 14:8–21
● Peter’s Sermon + A Vital Church Grows: Acts 2:14–39, 40–47
● Be Strong in Grace: 2 Timothy 2:1–13
While there aren’t many surprises in the 10 most used verses, Faithlife discovered that, of the 31,102 verses in the Bible, 29,321 verses were referred to in at least one sermon in 2021 (94%).
To download the full Year-End Song & Sermon Report from Faithlife, visit grow.faithlife.com/report/2021-top-songs-sermons.
Data Information
The worship music trends is based on data from over 705,000 presentations and 2.7 million songs churches sang together using Faithlife Proclaim Church Presentation Software. The insight into what topics and Scriptures pastors preached about in 2021 data is compiled from over 91,000 sermons posted to Faithlife Sermons.
About Faithlife
Faithlife, makers of Logos Bible Software, has been using technology to equip the Church to grow in the light of the Bible for more than 30 years. For more information, visit Faithlife.com.