What a difference a year makes. Capitol Christian Music Group celebrated its 50-year anniversary as it held its annual partner summit at its headquarters in Nashville on Aug. 20, but also feted the massive growth the genre has experienced in the past year.
“A lot has changed in 50 years — really a lot has changed since we got together 12 months ago,” CCMG president Brad O’Donnell told those in attendance, which included CCMG staffers and Interscope Capitol chairman/CEO John Janick and Capitol Music Group chairman/CEO Tom March. “There were early signs [a year ago] about the Christian and Gospel market getting ‘hot.’ Things that we would never have imagined before have happened, including how young our fanbase is getting.”
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“Christian and Gospel is now one of the most frontline-focused genres,” O’Donnell added. “Even more impressive, streaming in our genre grew by 18.5 points in 2025. We are entering an amazing period for faith-based music globally.” According to recent Luminate data, Christian/Gospel is the fastest-growing genre behind rock, increasing its marketshare by 0.25 percentage points.
One of the many artist highlights over the past year for CCMG has been the career surge of Josiah Queen. Queen’s sophomore album, Mt. Zion, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart in 2025, and he made his all-genre Billboard Hot 100 debut last year with the song “Dusty Bibles.” He also notched a three-week No. 1 Christian Airplay hit last year with the Brandon Lake collab “Can’t Steal My Joy.”
