With each passing year, there's a unique changing of the guard in the encouraging and inspirational world of Christian music. Even if it's purely coincidence, somehow most of the year's Christian music hits have a similar theme to them. Is it coincidence or divine intervention? One thing is for sure, the theme for the year will be reflected each year in the WOW Hits collection.
WOW Hits History
The WOW Hits CD collection is an annual representation of all the number one hits of the previous year. Thus WOW Hits 2010 is actually a collection of 2009 Christian music hits, and so on and so on. The annual collection began in 1995 with WOW 1996, produced and released through a collaboration between three of the top Christian music recording companies at that time: Sparrow Records, WORD Records and Reunion Records. Over the years a few name changes have been made. Sparrow Records is now EMI Christian Music Group. Word Record is now WORD Entertainment, and Reunion Records is now under the Sony name, Provident Label. The WOW series was changed to the WOW Hits beginning with the 2000 collection in December 2001.
The WOW 1996 - 2000 CDs were the first in a series of WOW collections:
- WOW 1996 - "God Is In Control", "Go Light Your World", "Shine", "Home Run", "The Great Divide"
- WOW 1997 - "Lord Of The Dance"
- WOW 1998 - "Circle of Friends", "Carry You"
- WOW 1999 - "Testify To Love"
- WOW 2000 - "Speechless", "Breathe", "Revive Us""
WOW Hits began in 2001 and this series has been the most successful series of WOW collections to date:
- WOW HITS 2001 - "Dive", "God You Are My God"
- WOW HITS 2002 - "Witness"
- WOW HITS 2003 - "Above All"
- WOW HITS 2004 - "He Reigns", "Nothing Compares", "Phenomenon"
- WOW HITS 2005 - "Amazing Love", "You Raised Me Up", "Come To Jesus", "Never Alone",
- WOW HITS 2006 - "Voice of Truth"
- WOW HITS 2007 - "Life Song", "How Great Is Our God", "Dead Man" ( Carry Me)
- WOW HITS 2008 - "Made To Worship", "Praise You In The Storm",
- WOW HITS 2009 - "God With Us", "Let It Fade", "Cinderella", "How You Live", "Mighty To Save",
- WOW HITS 2010
There are other WOW series available: WOW Essentials, WOW Worship, WOW Gospel and WOW Christmas. How ever, WOW Hits remains the number one selling CD in the WOW collections. Christian music fans look forward to the annual release each year before Christmas.
A Common Theme in WOW Hits 2010
This year's collection revolved around a unique, unplanned theme of God's healing through His infinite love, grace and mercy. Without intending to do so, most every artist featured wrote a number one hit song that reflected the Bible verses in Ephesians 2:4-6, (NIV), "But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus." Take a look at the songs included on the WOW HITS 2010 two CD set. Do they not all convey a similar message of being a new creature in Christ?
- "The Motions" by Matthew West
- "There Will Be A Day" by Jeremy Camp
- "Slow Fade" by Casting Crowns
- "I Will Rise" by Chris Tomlin
- "I Will Not Be Moved" by Natalie Grant
- "In The Hands of God" by Newsboys
- "Wait and See" by Brandon Heath
- "A New Hallelujah" by Michael W. Smith
- "Yours by Steven" Curtis Chapman
- "My Deliverer" by Mandisa
- "How He Loves" by David Crowder Band
- "What Life Would Be Like" by Big Daddy Weave
- "He Is" by Mark Schultz
- "Savior, Please" - Josh Wilson
- "You're Not Shaken" by Phil Stacy
- "City On Our Knees" by tobyMac
- "Free To Be Me" by Francesca Battistelli
- "Revelation" by Third Day
- "By Your Side" by Tenth Avenue North
- "The Lost Get Found" by Britt Nicole
- "Keys To The Kingdom" by Group1Crew
- "Beautiful Ending" by Barlowgirl
- "Whatever You're Doing" by Sanctus Real
- "The Meaning of Life" by Hawk Nelson
- "Never Be The Same" by Red
- "Two Hands" by Jars of Clay
- "All Along" by Remedy Drive
- "Forever" by Fireflight
- "Forgiven and Loved" by Jimmy Needham
- "The Words I Would Say" by Sidewalk Prophets
Thoughts for 2010
Many of the above artists are up and coming in the Christian music industry. This is the first year for artists like Francesca Battistelli and Josh Wilson. Others have been around and seem to have number one hits with each new release: tobyMac, Casting Crowns and Chris Tomlin among them. A few are bands that continue to climb the charts toward the top: Newsboys, Tenth Avenue North and Third Day. All of them have one common goal: to impact the world for Christ through their music.
Many Christian fans are not financially able to buy the latest new releases from their favorite artists. It is also becoming more difficult to afford concert tickets even in the smaller towns. The WOW Hits collection released every year gives fans an affordable alternative to buying several CDs or attending concerts. Of all the CDs released each year, WOW Hits should be the one at the top of the wish list.
Amy Wingfield - Amy, a freelance writer since 1999, has combined her passion for writing and for Christian music.There's always a story behind the ...
