RELIGION

Top worship songs during COVID-19 crisis, according to one church technology company

Portrait of Holly Meyer Holly Meyer
Nashville Tennessean

Christians are singing the old, comforting hymn "It Is Well With My Soul" during the coronavirus crisis. 

A church technology company analyzed the song selections its customers have made during the global pandemic and found the nearly 150-year-old standby to be the most sung worship song.

It did not surprise Marshall Brown, the data scientist at Faithlife who crunched the numbers, especially considering the song's powerful origin story.    

"It is one Christians reach out to in these troubled times or uncertain times," Brown said.

Horatio Spafford wrote "It Is Well With My Soul" after a ship carrying his wife, Anna, and their four daughters sank in 1873, according to the Library of Congress. After her rescue, Anna Spafford sent a telegram to her husband that said, "Saved alone." 

Before building to its echoing chorus, the song starts with "When peace like a river, attendeth my way/When sorrows like sea billows roll/Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say/It is well, it is well, with my soul." 

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"It Is Well With My Soul" is not the only song to see an increase in use during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Brown found 32 others when he looked at the ones picked by the nearly 12,000 churches of all sizes and denominations that use Faithlife Proclaim, the Washington state company's church presentation software. 

"We measured the songs that had the largest (percent) increase in usage during March 15-31 and April 20-May 10 when compared to their usage in February, before lockdowns due to COVID-19 were put into effect," the Faithlife report on the worship trend states.

Many churches suspended in-person services and shifted worship online in an effort to slow the spread of the virus.  

Brown skipped Easter in his analysis because churches gravitate toward certain worship songs during holiday seasons.

The 33 songs are a mix of old hymns and contemporary songs. Here are the top 10 songs:   

  1. "It Is Well with My Soul" 
  2. "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" 
  3. "No Longer Slaves" 
  4. "Raise a Hallelujah" 
  5. "See A Victory" 
  6. "The Solid Rock" 
  7. "You Never Let Go" 
  8. "Yes I Will" 
  9. "Cornerstone" 
  10. "He Will Hold Me Fast" 

Reach Holly Meyer at hmeyer@tennessean.com or 615-259-8241 and on Twitter @HollyAMeyer.