Contemporary Christian music in the context of "Christian radio"

Non-denominational Christianity (or nondenominational Christianity) consists of churches, and individual Christians, which typically distance themselves from the confessionalism or creedalism of other Christian communities by not formally aligning with a specific Christian denomination.

In North America, nondenominational Christianity arose in the 18th century through the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement, with followers organizing themselves simply as "Christians" and "Disciples of Christ". The nondenominational movement saw expansion during the 20th century Jesus movement era, which popularized contemporary Christian music and Christian media within global pop culture.

Christian rock is a genre of rock music that features lyrics focusing on matters of Christian faith, often with an emphasis on Jesus. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies between bands. Many bands who perform Christian rock have ties to the contemporary Christian music labels, media outlets, and festivals, while other bands are independent.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Tooth & Nail Records became a catalyst in legitimizing Christian rock as a notable subgenre of alternative rock. Signing acts like Starflyer 59 and MxPx, Tooth & Nail helped make alternative rock immediately accessible within evangelical church communities throughout the United States, and subsequently the wider Western world with the advent of music streaming.

Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts. There are several subcategories, dominantly focusing on rock, pop, or urban music. Used alone, CHR most often refers to the CHR-pop format. The term contemporary hit radio was coined in the early 1980s by Radio & Records magazine to designate Top 40 stations which continued to play hits from all musical genres as pop music splintered into adult contemporary, urban contemporary, contemporary Christian and other formats.

The term "top 40" is also used to refer to the actual list of hit songs, and, by extension, to refer to pop music in general. The term has also been modified to describe top 50; top 30; top 20; top 10; hot 100 (each with its number of songs) and hot hits radio formats, but carrying more or less the same meaning and having the same creative point of origin with Todd Storz as further refined by Gordon McLendon as well as Bill Drake. The format became especially popular in the mid-sixties as radio stations constrained disc jockeys to numbered play lists in the wake of the payola scandal.

Christian music is a genre of music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence, and lament, and its forms vary widely around the world. Church music, hymnals, gospel, and worship music are a part of Christian media and also include contemporary Christian music which itself supports numerous Christian styles of music, including hip hop, rock, contemporary worship, and urban contemporary gospel.

Like other forms of music the creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of Christian music varies according to culture and social context. Christian music can serve various functions, such as ceremonial, educational, aesthetical, or for entertainment purposes.

Christian media refers to media that is Christian, or refers to various aspects of mass media which primarily target the Christian demographic. As a genre its conventions originated in sermons, literature, and gospel music, and it has been adapted into film, radio, video games, and contemporary music.

Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian (born August 28, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She originally rose to success as a country music artist at the age of 13 and has since crossed over into pop, contemporary Christian, and other musical genres. Rimes has placed more than 40 singles on international charts since 1996. She has sold more than 48 million records worldwide, with 20.8 million album sales in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Billboard ranked her at number 17 in terms of sales success in the 1990–1999 decade.

Born in Mississippi and raised in Texas, Rimes demonstrated a unique singing ability from a young age. Through her parents' efforts, Rimes began performing in various musical theater and local music contests. Working with her father Wilbur as producer and manager, Rimes released two independent albums as a preteen. After signing with Curb Records in 1996, she released the single "Blue", which became a top-10 hit on the American Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. Her first Curb album and third overall, Blue was certified Platinum six times and established her as a major country artist. She received the Grammy Award for Best New Artist and Best Female Country Vocal Performance, becoming the youngest winner of the these categories. In 1997, Rimes crossed over into pop music with "How Do I Live", which became one of the best-selling singles of the 1990s. The track was included on her next album You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs (1997), which was certified quadruple Platinum. It was followed up with the Platinum-certified albums Sittin' on Top of the World (1998) and LeAnn Rimes (1999). In the following years, Rimes released several pop singles for soundtrack albums, which include "I Need You" and "Can't Fight the Moonlight", the latter of which became a major hit worldwide. Several of these soundtrack singles were compiled on the Platinum-certified album I Need You (2001).

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 States during the 1980s.

Christian hip-hop music first emerged on record in 1982 with a track entitled "Jesus Christ (The Gospel Beat)" by Queens, New York artist McSweet. The first full-length Christian hip-hop album, Bible Break, by Oklahoma artist Stephen Wiley, was released in 1985, with the title track becoming a hit on Christian radio in 1986. Other early Christian hip recording artists from the mid-1980s included P.I.D. (Preachas in Disguise), who recorded to funky rock rhythms, as well as JC & the Boys and Michael Peace. During the 1990s and 2000s, rapper KJ-52 rose to prominence in the field.