100 Greatest Worship Songs Of All Time

Brett McCracken has posted on his blog in 2008 a list of the 100 greatest worship songs of all time. There are some songs on this list that would definitely not come anywhere near a list of mine ("Imagine" by John Lennon, for example); and how come "The Messiah" by G. F. Handel is only at #14? This is Brett McCracken's opinion:

100 Greatest Worship Songs of All Time

Posted on March 14, 2008

…In my opinion. To me. Subjectively… These are the 100 most worshipful songs of all time. Now, before you start reading, recognize a few things:

▪   I am defining “worship songs” VERY broadly. Essentially this includes hymns and contemporary praise music, but also ancient classical music, arias, jazz, secular rock, etc…

▪   This list is not limited to songs that make me think about God and Jesus (though obviously a lot of them do). No, these are simply the songs that pack the biggest holiness punch when I listen to them. They are the songs that you can’t help but close your eyes to—the songs that are so beautiful, so alive, so longing, so emotional, that you feel the true transcendent power of art: what George Steiner calls “the most ‘ingressive’, trans-formative summons available to human experiencing.”

▪   After I compiled this list I looked over it to see what—if anything—these songs had in common. I found that a large number of them deal with topics of home—of “homelands” or “homelessness”—and also of memory/nostalgia/loss. A lot of them are sad and melancholy, reflecting upon the pain of unfound peace. These are the songs that make longing visceral—that point to the holy other and the heavens. To quote Steiner again, these are the songs “which inform us of the visitor’s visa in place and in time which defines our status as transients in a house of being whose foundations, whose future history, whose rationale—if any—lie wholly outside our will and comprehension.” (Note: Updated list, 2012)

100) Jesus was a Crossmaker – The Hollies


99) Someone to Watch Over Me – Ella Fitzgerald


98) Spirit in the Sky – Norman Greenbaum


97) From the Inside Out – Hillsong


96) Grandma Mary – Denison Witmer


95) Vincent – Don McLean


94) Welcome, Ghosts – Explosions in the Sky


93) ‘Round Midnight – Miles Davis


92) All for Jesus – Robin Mark


91) Lead Me to the Cross – Hillsong United


90) This Road – Jars of Clay


89) These Are My Mountains – Scottish traditional


88) Draw Me Close To You – Kelly Carpenter


87) I’ll Fly Away – Albert Brumley


86) (That’s How You Sing) Amazing Grace – Low


85) God Only Knows – The Beach Boys


84) Lead of Love – Caedmon’s Call


83) And Can it Be That I Should Gain? – Charles Wesley


82) Das Rheingold – Wagner


81) Blessed Assurance – Fanny Crosby


80) Nothing But the Blood – Robert Lowry


79) Death in His Grave – John Mark Reynolds


78) Exit Music (For A Film) – Radiohead


77) Stardust – Nat King Cole


76) Everlasting God – Lincoln Brewster

75) People Get Ready – Curtis Mayfield


74) Our Great God – Fernando Ortega


73) Both Sides Now – Joni Mitchell


72) Lilac Wine – Jeff Buckley


71) Orphan Girl – Gillian Welch


70) Long Lost Brother – Over the Rhine


69) What a Friend We Have in Jesus – Joseph Scriven


68) The King of Love My Shepherd Is – Irish traditional


67) Heysatan – Sigur Ros


66) Claire De Lune – Debussy


65) Danny Boy – Irish traditional


64) 40 – U2


63) The Four Seasons – Vivaldi


62) Down to the River to Pray – Alison Krauss


61) The Trumpet Child – Over the Rhine


60) Fantasia on Theme by Thomas Tallis – Ralph Vaughn Williams


59) Carry Me Home – Hem


58) Hymn – Jars of Clay


57) Knocking On Heaven’s Door – Bob Dylan


56) What Wondrous Love is This – traditional


55) Psalm 131 – Waterdeep


54) A Change is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke


53) Give Me Jesus – Fernando Ortega


52) A Mighty Fortress Is Our God – Martin Luther


51) I’ve Been High – REM


50) You Are Holy (Prince of Peace) – Michael W. Smith


49) Intervention – The Arcade Fire


48) You Are So Good to Me – Waterdeep


47) Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel


46) Mothers of the Disappeared – U2


45) If I Stand – Rich Mullins


44) All Creatures of Our God and King – Francis of Assisi


43) Yesterday – The Beatles


42) Piano Sonata No. 8 – Beethoven


41) Come to Jesus – Mindy Smith


40) What a Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong


39) In the Garden – C. Austin Miles


38) Song to the Moon – Dvorak


7) This Is My Father’s World – Maltbie Babcock


36) How Great Thou Art – Carl Boberg


35) O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing – Charles Wesley


34) Vapour Trail – Trespassers William


33) Holland – Sufjan Stevens


32) God of Wonders – Marc Byrd and Steve Hindalong


31) Jesus Paid it All – Elvina Hall


30) Clocks – Coldplay


29) Oh Praise Him – David Crowder


28) Unchained Melody – The Righteous Brothers


27) O Sacred Head Now Wounded – Bernard of Clairvaux


26) Requiem – Mozart


25) Let it Be – The Beatles


24) Great is Thy Faithfulness – Thomas Chisholm


23) How Deep the Father’s Love for Us – Stuart Townend


22) In Christ Alone – Keith Getty and Stuart Townand


21) You’re Hand in Mine – Explosions in the Sky


20) Ave Maria – Schubert


19) It is Well With My Soul – Horatio Spafford


18) Changes Come – Over the Rhine


17) Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen


16) Nessun Dorma – Puccini


15) The Lord’s Prayer – Albert Hay Malotte


14) Messiah – Handel


13) Where the Streets Have No Name – U2


12) Amazing Grace – John Newton


11) When I Survey the Wondrous Cross – Isaac Watts


10) My Jesus I Love Thee –William Featherstone


9) Oh the Deep Deep Love of Jesus –Samuel Francis


8) Seven Swans – Sufjan Stevens


7) Take My Life (And Let it Be) – Francis Havergal


6) Untitled #8 – Sigur Ros


5) Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing – Robert Robinson


4) Doxology – traditional


3) Symphony No. 9 – Beethoven


2) Holy, Holy, Holy – Reginald Heber


1) Be Thou My Vision – Irish traditional