The First Batch of New Hymns!

On May 30th, the church released the first batch of new hymns. I have done posts on how those hymns have been used during the first, second, and third weeks since their release, but this page covers the 15 weeks between when the first and second batches came out. When I get more data from this period I will update this page, but it will largely remain as is. Currently I have data from 1,889 sacrament meetings between June 2nd and September 8th from 308 wards.

But first, here’s how much data I have for each week, just so you have an idea of what I’m working with.

Number of wards I have data from, by week
Since June 2
date	wards
June 02	125
June 09	98
June 16	114
June 23	134
June 30	123
July 07	114
July 14	134
July 21	135
July 28	139
August 04	135
August 11	130
August 18	134
August 25	136
September 01	136
September 08	102

How many wards are singing new hymns each week?

The following plot shows the number of new hymns sung per ward each week between the first and second batches of the new hymns.

During this period, the number of wards that have sung new hymns has been remarkably stable. Typically, only about a quarter to a third of wards sing new hymns each week. A small number sing two each week. There are rare cases of three or more, but they are so infrequent, I’ve left them off this chart.

For each number of new hymns per week, I’ve overlaid a smooth to show the general trend. What I like about it is that is gives a shaded area showing where the proportions typically occur. Anything outside of those could be considered exceptional in some way. In this period here is one week that kinda stands out: August 4th. For some reason, that was the week where the fewest wards sang new hymns. I have no explanation for why that would be. Even when competing with holidays like Father’s Day, the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, and Pioneer Day, the number of new hymns per week stayed consistent. But a random week in early August had fewer—albeit by a small margin.

However, a good chunk of my data comes from single-week contributions from various wards, so just because a ward didn’t sing a new hymn this week doesn’t mean they didn’t do any. To see what proportion of wards have introduced new hymns during this period, I took a look at the 21 wards that I have data from from at least 90% of the 15 weeks in this period. About 15% of them didn’t sing any new hymns. Otherwise, the typical number of weeks that wards have sung new hymns since June 2nd is 3–5. But, that’s only based on 21 wards and not the complete dataset, so take that number with a grain of salt.

What hymns are most popular?

It should come as no surprise that the most popular hymn in this new batch is Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (#1001). But just how popular was it? The following table shows the new hymns in order of how often they were sung. The percent column shows what percentage of wards each hymn has been sung in as congregational hymns during this period.

Note that these numbers might be slightly inflated because some wards have sung the more popular hymns more than once.

Approximate percentage of wards new hymns have been sung in
Since June 2
Hymn	percent of wards
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (1001)	89.2%
It Is Well with My Soul (1003)	66.7%
As Bread is Broken (1007)	52.0%
I Will Walk with Jesus (1004)	46.6%
Bread of Life, Living Water (1008)	46.6%
His Eye Is on the Sparrow (1005)	44.2%
Gethsemane (1009)	24.1%
When the Savior Comes Again (1002)	22.5%
Think a Sacred Song (1006)	14.7%
What Child is This? (1203)	1.6%
Hail the Day that Sees Him Rise (1201)	0.8%
He Is Born, the Divine Christ Child (1202)	0.8%
Star Bright (1204)	0.8%

Overall then, it seems like the hymns have been pretty well-incorporated into regular singing. An overwhelming majority of wards have sung Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (#1001) between June 2 and September 8, which is pretty remarkable. Surely the novelty will wear off a little bit, but if that pace continues, then wards will sing it 3–4 times a year, or once every 13 weeks. For reference, before June 2nd, the most common hymn was I Stand All Amazed (#193) and was sung about once every 19 weeks per ward. The other hymns have been adopted with varying amounts of enthusiasm. We’ll wait until December to see how the new Christmas ones get used.

(For a complete version of this table that includes all hymns, see here.)

What hymns are most popular each week?

We can see to see a glimpse of how the adoption of these new hymns has ebbed and flowed and how each hymn has been introduced. The figure below shows what proportion of wards sang what hymns each week, given that they sang a new hymn that week. So, we’re only focused on wards that have used these hymns.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (#1001) was most popular during the first week. Of the wards that sang new hymns, two thirds of them sang it on June 2nd. My guess is we will never see a hymn hit that kind of popularity again, with the possible exception of new holiday hymns. Since then, the popularity of Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (#1001) has gone down. It went through a very tidy rise and fall, and then suddenly on August 25, it saw a huge spike again. Perhaps a lot of wards are singing it a second time now.

There are a few other major trends so far. As Bread is Broken (#1007) was very popular on June 16th, Father’s day. A common trend was to sing Father’s Day songs for opening and closing hymns and that hymn as the sacrament hymn. Also, It Is Well With My Soul (#1003) got a little more popular July 14th and has been more popular since then. His Eye Is on the Sparrow (#1005) saw a spike on July 28th and appears to be more popular since then. Finally, I Will Walk with Jesus (#1004) wasn’t very popular during the first two weeks, but it has been since then and was most popular on August 11th.

When during meetings are these hymns sung?

We can see when these hymns tend to be sung and get an overall look at the popularity of the first batch of hymns.

When were new hymns sung in sacrament meeting?
Between June 2 and September 8
New Hymn	Opening	Sacrament	Intermediate	Closing
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (1001)	39%	1%	21%	38%
When the Savior Comes Again (1002)	22%	3%	44%	31%
It Is Well with My Soul (1003)	28%	0%	27%	46%
I Will Walk with Jesus (1004)	27%	0%	39%	33%
His Eye Is on the Sparrow (1005)	30%	2%	35%	32%
Think a Sacred Song (1006)	21%	0%	37%	37%
As Bread is Broken (1007)	0%	90%	6%	1%
Bread of Life, Living Water (1008)	0%	91%	1%	6%
Gethsemane (1009)	15%	32%	21%	32%

Each hymn has its own story. Unsurprisingly, the hymns that are most likely to be sacrament hymns are As Bread is Broken (#1007), Bread of Life, Living Water (#1008), and Gethsemane (#1009), with that last one being sung pretty often elsewhere in the meeting. Think a Sacred Song (#1006) appears to be a little more common in the second half of the meeting, but I have only seen it sung in a few wards so that may change if more data comes in. Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (#1001) is about as likely to be an opening hymn as a closing hymn. It Is Well with My Soul (#1003) is most common as a clsoing hymn. His Eye Is on the Sparrow (#1005) is about evently split between all three slots. The last two hymns, I Will Walk with Jesus (#1004) and When the Savior Comes Again (#1002) are a little more commonly sung as intermediate hymns.

Conclusion

This post shows a handful of trends in the first batch of hymns in the first 15 weeks since their release. Again, this is only based on 1889 sacrament meetings from 308 wards. It’s not an insignificant amount of data, but it is just a sliver of the many wards across the country and the world. As always, I’m collecting more data and if you’d like to contribute your ward’s data, you can do so here.