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5 Shocking Ways Hillsong's "What A Beautiful Name" Still Dominates Worship In 2025

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Few modern worship songs have achieved the global, cross-denominational impact of Hillsong Worship's "What a Beautiful Name." Released in 2017, the track quickly transcended its origins to become a worldwide anthem, but what is truly remarkable is its sustained relevance and continued dominance years later. As of December 2025, this Grammy-winning song remains a cornerstone of contemporary Christian music, influencing new releases and setting unprecedented metrics for spiritual music.

The enduring power of the song, written by Brooke Ligertwood and Ben Fielding, is not just a historical footnote. It continues to break records, inspire new creative works, and serve as a primary worship resource for churches globally, proving its theological depth and musical accessibility have given it a timeless quality that few tracks ever achieve. This article dives into the updated statistics, the songwriters' current projects, and the surprising ways the song continues to shape the worship landscape today.

The Architects of the Anthem: Brooke Ligertwood and Ben Fielding's Latest Projects

The monumental success of "What a Beautiful Name" is intrinsically linked to its co-writers, Brooke Ligertwood (formerly Brooke Fraser) and Ben Fielding. Their careers, far from peaking in 2018 with the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song, have continued to evolve, demonstrating their ongoing influence on the genre.

  • Brooke Ligertwood's Solo Ascent: Brooke Ligertwood has cemented her status as a prolific solo artist and worship leader. Her recent work includes the critically acclaimed albums EIGHT (released in 2023) and INFINITY (released in 2024), which saw her nominated for a 2024 Dove Award for Worship Album of the Year. Her latest single, "Garment Of Praise (Live At Passion 2025)," confirms her continued prominence in the global worship scene, separate from her work with Hillsong Worship.
  • Ben Fielding's Collaborative Spirit: Ben Fielding remains a key figure within the Hillsong songwriting collective and has also expanded his creative output. He is involved in the side project CXMMXNS alongside Reuben Morgan, exploring new musical territories while continuing to co-author chart-topping tracks. Fielding’s commitment to theological depth in songwriting ensures the continued quality of the music he produces.
  • The Song's Origin Album: "What a Beautiful Name" was the lead single from Hillsong Worship's 25th live album, Let There Be Light. The album, recorded live at the Hillsong Conference in Sydney, Australia, was a commercial success, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Christian Albums chart and providing the foundational context for the song’s initial explosion.

Unprecedented Metrics: The Streaming and Chart Dominance in 2025

The true measure of the song's enduring relevance is found in its hard statistics. Years after its initial release, "What a Beautiful Name" continues to accrue massive numbers, placing it in a rare tier of musical longevity that rivals mainstream pop hits.

The song’s performance across major platforms in 2024 and 2025 highlights its status as a permanent fixture in the digital worship landscape:

  • The Billion Stream Threshold: The original track has surpassed a staggering 355 million streams on Spotify alone. When factoring in YouTube and other platforms, the total number of global listens is estimated to be well over a billion, a figure almost unheard of for a worship song. Millions of streams are still being added monthly in 2024, demonstrating its active consumption.
  • CCLI's Top Tier Status: Perhaps the most crucial metric for a worship song is its ranking on the CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International) Top 100 list, which tracks songs used in church services worldwide. As of 2025, "What a Beautiful Name" consistently holds a spot among the top songs, a testament to its universal adoption by churches of all sizes and denominations globally.
  • The Multi-Version Phenomenon: The song’s popularity led to the release of a dedicated EP featuring six distinct versions, including an Acoustic Instrumental and a powerful Gospel Version. This variety allows worship leaders to adapt the track to different musical styles and congregational preferences, further extending its lifespan and topical authority.

The Expanding Legacy: From Worship Anthem to Children's Book

The song's impact has grown beyond the church auditorium and streaming charts, evolving into a cultural entity that spans generations. This expansion into other media is a clear indicator of its deep, lasting legacy.

The Children's Book Adaptation

In a surprising and beautiful development, the Grammy-winning ballad was adapted into a children's book. Co-authored by Brooke Ligertwood and Ben Fielding (alongside their spouses, Scott Ligertwood and Karalee Fielding), the book takes the powerful lyrics and translates them into a fantastical journey of discovery for young readers. This creative extension demonstrates a commitment to instilling the song's core theological message—the supreme power and saving grace of Jesus—into the next generation of worshippers. The book, illustrated by Scott Ligertwood, has been a popular addition to Christian family resources, ensuring the song's message continues to resonate in new formats.

The Enduring Theological Core

At its heart, the song’s success lies in its profound lyrical content. The lyrics are a rich tapestry of Christian theology, focusing on the names and attributes of Jesus Christ: "You were the Word at the beginning," "The name of Jesus Christ my King," and "You have no rival, You have no equal." This focus on the finished work of Christ—from creation ("You were the Word at the beginning") to the cross ("Death could not hold You")—gives the song a powerful, timeless message that transcends musical trends. The intentional use of deep theological concepts, yet presented with accessible melody and structure, is the key to its sustained success across different cultures and languages.

How "What a Beautiful Name" Paved the Way for New Worship Artists

The song’s phenomenal global reach and commercial success fundamentally altered the landscape of contemporary worship music (CCM). By achieving a Grammy and reaching mainstream commercial success (dubbed a "genre-smashing single" by Billboard), it raised the bar for production quality and global distribution for all subsequent worship releases.

  • Raising the Production Standard: The song’s polished, stadium-ready production became a template for many worship teams, pushing the entire genre toward higher musical and technical standards.
  • The Global Worship Model: Alongside other Hillsong tracks, "What a Beautiful Name" demonstrated the viability of a global worship model, where songs written in one country (Australia) could be immediately adopted and sung worldwide, often translated into dozens of languages.
  • Inspiring New Songwriters: The track’s success motivated a new generation of songwriters to focus on the balance between lyrical depth and musical accessibility, which has led to a renaissance in modern worship songwriting, with artists like Benjamin William Hastings and others stepping into the spotlight.

In conclusion, as we move through 2025, "What a Beautiful Name" is far more than a hit song; it is a cultural and spiritual phenomenon. Its continued streaming dominance, its status on the CCLI charts, the evolving careers of its writers, and its expansion into new media like the children's book all confirm that its beautiful name continues to be lifted up in every corner of the world.

5 Shocking Ways Hillsong's
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hillsong what a beautiful

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