Also, I have not included Greatest Hits albums. Chris Tomlin had How Great Is Our God: The Essential Collection released last year, but the songs had all been on albums released in prior years. That album, no doubt would make this list.
So here is MY list of top worship albums released in 2011 (In no particular order):
Passion-Here For You
The title track by Chris Tomlin starts it off right but it doesn’t stop there. You can feel the energy of the Passion Conference on your computer speakers. The guest appearances by Lecrae on Our God with Chris Tomlin and Shadows with The David Crowder Band put this album up over the top. Add to that Kristian Stanfill’s version of Forever Reign and you have a fantastic album.
Phoenix First Worship-Ebenezer EP
This album has 5 songs, 3 of them are outstanding, and one is a remake of th hymn, Come Thou Fount. You Are God is an upbeat anthem. Be Thou Glorified is as close to a modern-day hymn as you will find, and Love Came Down slows it down a bit to give a well-rounded EP
Matt Redman-10,000 Reasons
2 songs on this album give me 10,000 reasons to purchase it. Here for You is a great response song to God, but Never Once is one of my top songs of the year. It blends great melodies, with great swells in dynamics, but also a truth that is comforting to sing to my Creator: that we are never alone.
Hillsong Live-God is Able
Like Hillsong always does, they give us some catchy tunes with great truths, incredible musicianship and songs that will be sung for awhile. God Is Able is one of those songs. Go is another song that I enjoy, as well as their version of Chris Tomlin’s Awakening (which I like as much, if not better than the original). To me, this is not the best Hillsong album ever, but it is still good enough to make this list for sure.
Elevation Worship-For the Honor
Relatively new to the game, Elevation Worship brings a fresh-ness to the worship arena. There is a rawness and an energy that is outstanding. My personal favorite tracks are For The Honor, The Church, and All Things New. My Favorite track was on a previous album, but they brought it back as good as ever, and that is Give Me Faith
One Sonic Society-Forever Reign
When Stu G does any work on an album it is usually worth listening to. This album is no exception. The highlights from this album, to me, are Always, Forever Reign, and The
Greatness of Our God. These songs have been done by other artists, but the versions on this album are second to none, especially Always.
Bethel Live-Be Lifted High
Bethel worship teams just simply know how to worship. Although it isn’t the same as actually being there for the live recording, this is as close as it gets. For me, the gold on this album starts right away with the first two songs, You Are Good and One Thing Remains, with the latter being one of my top 3 songs for the year. Love Came Down is another song that captures the essence of worship and translates it to the listener.
Hillsong United-Aftermath
As with the Hillsong Live album, the two tracks that capture my attention here are Awakening and Go. Not much else here that really gets me, but I have said that about many Hillsong songs in the past, and when I go back and listen years later, they somehow pull me in. So I expect this album to do that sometime in the future.
Jesus Culture-Awakening
Another Bethel offering with Chris Quilala and Kim Walker-Smith, and I could say the same thing here as I said about Bethel Live, so I won’t. Instead, I would say grab this album, and put it on your iPod on repeat and let it play for however long you need to. I love Holding Nothing Back, and I love how they went old school and older school with We Are Hungry and Nothing But The Blood. Some very powerful tunes all throughout the album.
Kari Jobe-We Are
The single. Very pop. Very catchy. A message that we constantly need to remind ourselves as well. Not a typical Kari Jobe song as far as what I am used to, but good nonetheless.
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