Christian contemporary hit radio (sometimes abbreviated as Christian CHR, also known as contemporary Christian hits, Christian hit list, current Christian hits, Christian hit music, Christian top 40, or Christian pop radio) is a

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

that is common in many countries (mainly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand) that focuses on playing current and recent music as determined by the

contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christianity, Chri ...

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

. There are several subcategories, dominantly focusing on

Christian rock Christian rock is a form of rock music that features lyrics focusing on matters of Christian faith, often with an emphasis on Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. This music is typically performed by Christians, Christian individuals. The extent to whi ...

, Christian pop, or urban gospel music. Used alone, ''Christian CHR'' most often refers to the Christian CHR-pop format. The term ''Christian hit radio'' was coined in the early 1980s by ''

CCM Magazine ''CCM Magazine'' is an online magazine focusing on contemporary Christian music and media, published by Logan and Amanda Sekulow. History ''CCM'' was first published in July 1978, as a printed magazine. It has been owned by Salem since 1999. O ...

'' (shortly after the term ''contemporary hit radio'' was coined by ''

Radio & Records ''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...

'' magazine) to designate

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

stations which continued to play hits from all Christian music genres as contemporary Christian music splintered into

Christian adult contemporary Christian adult contemporary, also known as Christian AC, CAC, or Christian Adult Contemporary Airplay, is a form of radio-played contemporary Christian music, ranging from 1960s Jesus music and 1970s Christian soft rock music to predominately ...

Urban contemporary gospel Urban/contemporary gospel, also known as urban gospel music, urban gospel pop, or just simply urban gospel, is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the gen ...

and other formats. The term "Christian top 40" is also used to refer to the actual list of hit songs, and, by extension, to refer to

in general.

Variations

Christian CHR

Also known as Christian CHR/pop or Christian teen CHR. Plays Christian pop, and Christian dance, and sometimes

urban gospel Urban/contemporary gospel, also known as urban gospel music, urban gospel pop, or just simply urban gospel, is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the genr ...

, Christian alternative,

, and Christian country crossover as well. Often referred as "

"; in terms of incorporating a variety of genres of Christian music, Christian CHR/pop is the successor to the original concept of Christian top 40 radio which originated in the 1960s.

Christian adult CHR

These stations typically are hybrids of the contemporary Christian hit radio (CHR/pop) and Christian hot AC formats. This format contains a strong focus on current Christian charts, contemporary and recurrent Christian hits as well as placing a minority of older, classic Christian hits from the 2000s and early to mid 2010s onto the playlist. Christian adult CHR stations play pop-friendly Christian rhythmic, Christian dance and Christian hip hop titles alongside standard Christian pop and pop rock fare, and often shying away from the most rhythmic Christian CHR titles until they are established hits on the format.

Christian rhythmic CHR

Also known as Christian CHR/rhythmic, or Christian CHR/urban. These stations focus on

Christian hip hop Christian hip-hop (originally gospel rap, also known as Christian rap, gospel hip-hop or holy hip-hop) is a cross-genre of contemporary Christian music and hip-hop. It emerged from urban contemporary music and Christian media in the United State ...

and

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

. There are differences between Christian CHR/rhythmic and the

urban contemporary gospel Urban/contemporary gospel, also known as urban gospel music, urban gospel pop, or just simply urban gospel, is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the gen ...

format; urban gospel stations will often play

Christian R&B Christian R&B (also known as gospel R&B, rhythm & praise music, and R&P) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music consisting of tracks with Christian-based lyrics or by musicians typically known for writing such songs. Music in this genre intends ...

and

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

songs that Christian CHR/rhythmic stations will not, and Christian CHR/rhythmic stations, despite playlists heavy with urban gospel product, sometimes have white disc jockeys and will include CEDM and rhythmic Christian pop music that urban gospel outlets will not.

Bilingual Christian CHR

Bilingual Spanish Christian CHRs combine current and recent Christian and rhythmic CHR hits with recent Latin Christian pop hits, targeting young Latina listeners. Similarly, bilingual French Christian CHRs are common in some Canadian markets, and combine anglophone and French Christian pop hits. Filipino-based Christian CHR stations are also common in major Philippine market areas, which feature current Christian and rhythmic CHR hits with recent

OPM and P-Pop hits.

Gold-based Christian CHR

Gold-based Christian CHRs combine a more limited base of currents and recurrents from the Christian, rhythmic and/or adult CHR formats with a broader playlist of gold from the 2000s and 2010s. Similar to gold-based mainstream CHR, stations from this format may also be called

rhythmic hot AC if their library is particularly rhythmic-leaning.

Christian CHR/dance

Playing Christian dance remixes of popular Christian songs with perhaps current Christian hits from the dance charts. As with pure mainstream dance-music radio stations (as opposed to CHR/rhythmic and rhythmic AC formats), pure Christian dance-music radio stations (as opposed to Christian CHR/rhythmic and

rhythmic AC formats) are not very common but tend to have loyal audiences in the markets where they do exist.

Christian CHR/rock

Stations with this format, a modernized Christian Rock 40 format, are similar in some ways to the Christian Adult CHR and Christian CHR/pop formats, but also incorporate

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...

/ Christian alternative/

active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...

and

modern AC titles in an upbeat presentation.

Other variations

There are also variations targeting minority ethnic groups, such as Christian CHR/español ( Latin Christian pop), and Christian CHR/Tejano (

Tex-Mex and Tejano) which are commonly found in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Key contributors

Countdowns, shows and personalities

* Weekend 22

Formats and radio stations

Air1 Air1 is an American Christian radio network owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), a non-profit Christian ministry. It primarily broadcasts contemporary worship music, and is a sister to the EMF's K-Love network. History On July 15, ...

(1995-2019) *

KADI-FM KADI-FM (99.5 FM) is a Christian contemporary hit radio station in Republic, Missouri serving the Springfield, Missouri area. The station is owned by Karen and R.C. Amer through its holding company Vision Communications. KADI-FM was also the ...

* KJTM-LP * KOAY * KPUL * WJLZ *

WUFM WUFM (88.7 FM broadcasting, FM, "RadioU") is a Non-commercial educational station, non-commercial radio station licensed to Columbus, Ohio. The station retransmits its signal to several FM stations and FM Broadcast relay station, translat ...

* WYSZ * WYQQ * His Radio Z

References

{{reflist Radio formats Contemporary Christian music Record charts