I ran the top ten CCLI music selections and the top ten "Hymnal" music selections through a word counter. I hoped to find more interesting data than I did, but I'd be interested if you see anything here worth noting.
The Facts
Out of 1720 words in the top ten selections since 1923 (composition date of Great Is Thy Faithfulness):
The average word is 5.45 letters in length.
The most used words are:
50 (6%)thou
26 (3%)lord
26 (3%)thee
26 (3%)praise
23 (3%)great
22 (3%)art
20 (2%)god
20 (2%)thy
19 (2%)holy
18 (2%)soul Out of 1376 words in the top ten current CCLI selections (all written within the last 15 years):
The average word is 4.78 letters in length.
21 (4%)god
14 (3%)king
13 (3%)lord
13 (3%)love
12 (2%)worthy
10 (2%)holy
10 (2%)grace
9 (2%)great
9 (2%)need
8 (2%)sing
Thoughts
Five of the words in the first list a pronouns or names referring to God. Three of the same in the second list.In the first list two words describe God as great and holy. In the second list four words describe God as worthy, holy, gracious, and great. From my own observance, I'd assume love is flexible in its use of "I love" or "God loves."
In the first list one word (soul), debateably two words (praise) refer to me. In the second list,
There appears to be a wider vocabulary in the second list. In the first list, six words make up 21 percent of the lyrics. In the second list six words make up only 17 percent of the lyrics.
A bit deeper
Ancient selections Including common words:
69 (4%)and66 (4%)my
61 (4%)the
50 (3%)thou
38 (2%)of
33 (2%)to
28 (2%)in
26 (2%)lord
26 (2%)thee
26 (2%)praise
New selections including common words:
72 (5%)the63 (5%)and
47 (4%)my
41 (3%)is
37 (3%)you
26 (2%)your
25 (2%)in
21 (2%)god
20 (2%)of
19 (1%)who
Thoughts
Of the first list, the top six words make up 19 percent of the vocabulary. Of the second list, the top six words make up 22 percent of the vocabulary.Of the first list, two uncommon words still make the list (Lord and praise). Of the second list, one uncommon word still makes the list (God).
