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 |
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.
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
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
(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.
There are a few other major trends so far.
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
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.