Attender preferences in music style

The results of the 2016 NCLS confirm the popularity of traditional hymns followed by praise music and choruses in church worship services.

Contemporary hymns and other styles of music were less popular among Australian churchgoers.

In the 2016 NCLS, church attenders surveyed from across faith traditions were asked to assess ‘which of the following styles of music do you feel would be most helpful to you in congregational worship'? (Mark up to TWO).

Churchgoers ranked traditional hymns (47%) closely followed by praise music and choruses (41%) as the main styles most helpful to attenders. Contemporary hymns (29%) and other music or songs (15%) were placed next on the preferred list of style of music. Only 1% of churchgoers expressed a preference for no music or songs in their worship services. 

Table: Denomination differences for indicators of vital and nurturing worship

	In worship services attenders always/usually experience...						Preference for music style
	Preaching helpful to my life	Music I appre­­­ciate	Inspira­­­tion	A sense of God's presence	Growth in under­­­­standing of God	Challenge to action	Tradi­­­­tional hymns	Praise music & choruses	Contem­­­­porary hymns
%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
All Attenders	79	83	72	83	77	61	47	41	29
Denominational Groups
Catholic	71	79	67	86	74	53	53	29	26
Protestant	85	88	76	81	81	67	43	52	31
Mainstream Protestant	82	86	70	77	77	59	57	42	34
Pentecostal	91	93	89	90	88	81	22	57	31
Other Protestant	83	85	74	78	79	64	41	65	27

More than half of Protestant and Anglican attenders (52%) rated praise music and choruses as their most preferred music style compared with 29% of Catholic attenders. 

Catholic churchgoers were most likely to rank traditional hymns as their preferred music style. Just over of Catholic attenders (53%) ranked traditional hymns most popular compared with 43% of Protestant attenders.

Our research highlights that while there is some diversity in music preferences across denominations, almost all churchgoers say they would have a preference for some form of music or song in their church worship service, rather than none. In the coming years it remains to be seen whether contemporary hymns, being a relatively recent development, become more popular and widespread in their use in worship services, particularly amongst younger generations.

More information on traditional vs contemporary styles of worship and music across generational groupings is available in the article Builders and Boomers: a bridge from faithful tradition to contemporary choice.