Leading the way is Lauren Daigle, whose songs continue to test incredibly well year after year. Her powerful voice and memorable hits give her a strong lead in the rankings.

Next comes a tie for second between Tasha Layton and Francesca Battistelli, both known for uplifting songs that connect with listeners.

There’s also a tie for fourth between rising artist Katy Nichole and longtime favorite Laura Story.

These artists prove that when meaningful lyrics meet unforgettable melodies, listeners keep coming back again and again.

Coming up in May: We take a look at the men Christian radio listeners can’t get enough of. How many of these artists are currently in your rotation?

The post The Women Christian Radio Listeners Can’t Get Enough Of first appeared on CMB.

The post The Women Christian Radio Listeners Can’t Get Enough Of appeared first on CMB.

These rankings are based on song scores from the past 12 months. We’re noticing not only that worship songs that played on CCM stations are testing better than ever (Tomlin/Holy Forever and Elevation/Graves Into Gardens, for example), but now we’re seeing worship songs that largely didn’t get played on CCM stations also testing. For example, Passion/The Lord Will Provide and MCM & Brandon Lake/Fear Is Not My Future are songs that are sung in church and played on Worship stations. We recommend that at a minimum those titles should be a discussion at your station.

Coming in April: The latest rankings on the most popular artists with CCM listeners across the United States.

The post The Top 5 Songs from Each of the Last 10 Years first appeared on CMB.

The post The Top 5 Songs from Each of the Last 10 Years appeared first on CMB.

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey includes almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide—5,470 of them from Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) stations. 

Check out the numbers on marital status. Less than half were married the first time. About a third are divorced or remarried. Almost one in ten is widowed. And almost one in ten never married. 

It helps explain why, when we ask about airing Christian marriage advice on the radio, we get mixed results. Almost as if the married folks are saying, “I could use some of that!” And the non-married folks – about a third – are saying “Not Interested.” 

Coming in March: From our music research over the past year, the Top 5 Testing Songs released in each of the past ten years. Are you testing them? Are you playing them?

The post Top 5 Marital Statuses Among CCM Listeners first appeared on CMB.

The post Top 5 Marital Statuses Among CCM Listeners appeared first on CMB.

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey includes almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide—5,470 of them from Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) stations. And I’ll bet the denominations they identify with don’t surprise you. The top five are dominated with Evangelical Protestant denominations (no.1, no.2 and no.5 total to 66 percent).

What might surprise you is how different this top five is from the actual denominational composition of the United States. According to the Pew Religious Landscape Study from 2023-2024, 62 percent of Americans identify as Christian. Of that 62percent, here are the Top Five Denominations:

Geography makes a huge difference in these nationwide population numbers (for example, Christians in Dallas-Fort Worth are 44 percent Evangelical Protestant versus Chicago’s 17 percent, but it appears that there could be opportunity to help our stations reach beyond the Evangelical Protestant core.  

What are the ways, without compromising the bold Biblical message, that we might attract listeners from other Christian denominations to worship God through our stations the other six days of the week?

Coming in February: From the 2025 Why Listen Survey, The Top 5 Marital Statuses represented among the respondents. Hint: Not all of your listeners are married!

The post Top 5 Denominations among CCM Listeners first appeared on CMB.

The post Top 5 Denominations among CCM Listeners appeared first on CMB.

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey reveals clear priorities among CCM audiences regarding on-air content. The survey conducted earlier this year included almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide, of whom 5,470 were from Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) stations.

Leading by a wide margin, A word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today (81%) demonstrates that spiritual encouragement is the heart of CCM radio. Listeners are not simply tuning in for music but for messages that connect biblical truth to daily living, affirming your role as a spiritual companion.

At 53 percent, information on a local Christian concert ranks second, highlighting the importance of community connection and shared worship experiences. CCM listeners value opportunities to gather in faith-centered environments where the music they love is brought to life.

The third topic, Bible studies on subjects such as prophecy, spiritual gifts, and marriage (37%), indicates interest in deeper biblical engagement and ongoing discipleship. Meanwhile, ideas for free, fun family activities (36%) reveal that listeners also seek practical, family-oriented inspiration rooted in Christian values.

Finally, weather forecasts (33%) round out the top five—an indicator that listeners trust you for both faith and everyday reliability. Overall, these findings illustrate that CCM radio functions as more than entertainment: it is a daily blend of Scripture, community, learning, and life guidance grounded in faith.

Coming in December: From the 2025 Why Listen Survey, The Top 5 Motivations for Giving to your ministry, directly from your donors.

The post The Top 5 On-Air Topics first appeared on CMB.

The post The Top 5 On-Air Topics appeared first on CMB.

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey reveals clear priorities among CCM audiences regarding on-air content. The survey conducted earlier this year included almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide, of whom 5,470 were from Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) stations.

Leading by a wide margin, A word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today (81%) demonstrates that spiritual encouragement is the heart of CCM radio. Listeners are not simply tuning in for music but for messages that connect biblical truth to daily living, affirming your role as a spiritual companion.

At 53 percent, information on a local Christian concert ranks second, highlighting the importance of community connection and shared worship experiences. CCM listeners value opportunities to gather in faith-centered environments where the music they love is brought to life.

The third topic, Bible studies on subjects such as prophecy, spiritual gifts, and marriage (37%), indicates interest in deeper biblical engagement and ongoing discipleship. Meanwhile, ideas for free, fun family activities (36%) reveal that listeners also seek practical, family-oriented inspiration rooted in Christian values.

Finally, weather forecasts (33%) round out the top five—an indicator that listeners trust you for both faith and everyday reliability. Overall, these findings illustrate that CCM radio functions as more than entertainment: it is a daily blend of Scripture, community, learning, and life guidance grounded in faith.

Coming in December: From the 2025 Why Listen Survey, The Top 5 Motivations for Giving to your ministry, directly from your donors.

The post The Top 5 On-Air Topics first appeared on CMB.

The post The Top 5 On-Air Topics appeared first on CMB.

We presented respondents with 16 different reasons they might listen to their Christian radio station. Two months ago, we looked at the Top Five Main Reasons CCM Listeners Listen. And, last month, the Bottom Five Main Reasons – Reasons no. 12 through no. 16. This month, we present the Top Five Reasons broken out by Gender and Age. The numbers are the percentage of respondents who indicated that’s a Main Reason they listen:

The 2025 Finney

Keep in mind that the respondents to our survey come from station databases – the most loyal, most interested, likely P1 superfans. Both genders and age groups give the highest marks to worshipful Christian music and help with worshipping God throughout the day – in numbers higher in all four demo breakouts than the next closest reason – encouragement. Two headlines out of this:

1. Worship music and worship content score very high among these superfans. These days, the highest rated CCM stations are more intentional about worshipful content. They are leaning more spiritual.
2. You could boil down the top reasons to two words – Spiritual Encouragement. If you’re doing breaks that are neither spiritual nor encouraging or both, why? And what might change if you did?

Coming next month: From the 2025 Why Listen? Survey, we presented our respondents with a number of topics we might talk about on the air. We’ll show you the Top Five Show Topics.

The post The Top 5 Reasons CCM Listeners Listen by Gender and Age first appeared on CMB.

The post The Top 5 Reasons CCM Listeners Listen by Gender and Age appeared first on CMB.

We presented listeners 16 different reasons they might listen to their Christian radio station. Last month, we looked at the Top Five Main Reasons CCM Listeners Listen (link). Here are the Bottom Five Main Reasons for Music Station respondents; reasons no. 12 through no. 16. The numbers are the percentage of respondents who indicated that’s a Main Reason they listen.

12. Practical advice on family relationships, personal finances and topics that help you improve your life 24%

13. You like to hear interviews with key Christian leaders and authors 20%

14. You want to be informed about possible threats to your Christian faith 17%

15. You want to hear sermons 11%

16. You want to hear regular news updates 10%

Starting at the bottom . . . 

Reason no. 16 News, no. 15 Sermons, no. 14 Threats to your faith: Do they want them? Likely. Just not from your CCM station. They likely leave if you do them . . . and they don’t necessarily come back.

Reason no.13 Interviews: If you do them, don’t do them live. Live interviews are a recipe for a way-too-long talk segment on your station. Better to record and edit. The most successful CCM stations have either cut way back or eliminated them.

Relationship or financial advice: Should take a backseat to spiritual encouragement content. And if you do relationship or financial advice – make it Biblical and concise.

Coming next month: From the 2025 Why Listen? Survey, we take a look at the highest Main Reasons . . . by Age and Gender. How are men and women, younger and older CCM listeners the same . . . or different.

The post The Bottom 5 Reasons CCM Listeners Listen first appeared on CMB.

The post The Bottom 5 Reasons CCM Listeners Listen appeared first on CMB.

We presented listeners with 16 different reasons they might listen to their Christian radio station. Here are the Top Five Main Reasons for Music Station respondents. The numbers are the percentage of respondents who indicated that’s a Main Reason they listen.

1. You like the worshipful Christian music 93%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day 91%
3. You want to be encouraged. 82%
4. It helps you grow spiritually. 77%
5. It’s safe for you and your family to listen to. 68%

The no. 1 and no. 2 reasons are roughly equal, and are a powerful reason for us to consider the spiritual temperature of our stations. It appears that our biggest fans – the folks who took the time to complete the survey – continue to want an overtly worshipful focus on your station.

Laser beam your vision onto the first four reasons. Those are the ones over 75 percent indicating it’s a main reason they listen. You could boil those four reasons down to two words – Spiritual Encouragement.

It leads us to our Action Points for CCM Stations:

1. Talk just long enough. Don’t fill.
2. Help her feel encouraged.
3. Then play a song she loves.

Coming next month: From the 2025 Why Listen? Survey – We take a look at the lowest Main Reasons…things we do that aren’t the reasons she listens.

The post The Top 5 Reasons CCM Listeners Listen first appeared on CMB.

The post The Top 5 Reasons CCM Listeners Listen appeared first on CMB.

Your listeners LOVE your station!

The Net Promoter Score is a widely used metric for products, services, and brands worldwide. To gauge listener favorability in the Why Listen Survey, we ask: 

How likely are you to recommend the station that sent you this survey to family, friends and colleagues?
10 = Very Likely. 1 = Not At All Likely. Only 9’s and 10’s count toward positives. 1’s through 6’s count as negative. 

To better illustrate, check out this graphic:

Here’s the great news! CCM Radio scores higher than the most positive brands in America! Check it out:

• Amazon +62
• Netflix +68
• Airbnb +74
• Starbucks +77
• CCM Radio Stations +84

+84 means almost everyone gave us 9’s and 10’s and almost no one gave us 1’s through 6’s.

Much to be thankful for! Our stations are wildly positive with our listeners. Praise be to God!

The post Contemporary Christian Radio’s Net Promoter Score – WOW! first appeared on CMB.

The post Contemporary Christian Radio’s Net Promoter Score – WOW! appeared first on CMB.