"WOW" is a series of annual compilation albums featuring contemporary Christian music. The birth of the WOW record project can be traced Grant Cunningham, A&R Director at Sparrow Records. In November 1994 Grant made a business trip to EMI Limited in London, which at the time was the parent company of Sparrow Records. There he noticed that several British record labels were issuing an annual CD of top-rated songs, known as the NOW series, containing collections of pop songs. Grant brought the idea back to Sparrow. Sparrow executives suggested a similar project be developed for Christian pop music and Grant was assigned the task of getting the project off the ground. The WOW franchise represents the most successful collections of Christian music ever issued.
Contents
- WOW Essentials
- WOW Hits
- WOW Gospel
- WOW Worship
- WOW Christmas
- WOW The 90s
- WOW Gold
- WOW for the Children
- WOW 1s
- Smooth Jazz Tribute WOW Gospel
- WOW Gospel Christmas
- WOW Next 2007
- WOW Hymns
- WOW Gospel Essentials
- WOW Gospel Worship
- WOW Gospel the 90s
- WOW Gospel the 2000s
- WOW New Next
- WOW Hits Party Mix
- WOW Hits 20th Anniversary
- WOW the videos
- Other WOW DVDs
- References
Released in late 1995, "WOW 1996" was the first in the WOW series and the first recording put together by the three major Christian record companies of the time: Word Records (now Word Entertainment), Sparrow Records (now part of EMI Christian Music Group), and Reunion Records (now part of Sony's Provident Label Group). Still today, after each submitting label agrees to a reduced master royalty, the final decision on the tracks to be included is made by committee. Production, marketing, and distribution for the "WOW Hits" series is handled by EMI Christian Music Group.
In 1999, the annual "WOW Worship" series was launched. Rather than using the year, each release is identified by the color of the cover. The worship series and hits series are today among the bestselling members of the product brand.
Comprising songs submitted by each partner label, the annual "WOW Hits" releases have typically been double CD sets. Beginning in 2008, however, "WOW" began releasing separate single-disc collections spread throughout each year, rather than a two-disc collection toward the end of each year. In addition to "WOW Hits," which focuses on the most popular pop and pop-rock music, plans call for edgier single-disc "WOW Rock Hits" and "WOW Pop Hits" collections released twice a year.
WOW Essentials
WOW Essentials was first released in August 2008. It contains twelve songs that are "essential to Christian music life." The first album features songs from Chris Tomlin, Casting Crowns, and many others. The focus of this series is to showcase favorite and well-known songs picked from the most recent years.
WOW Essentials consists of the following albums:
WOW Hits
WOW Series is the first and most successful series of WOW collections. It contains the following albums:
WOW Hits is the second and also the most successful series of WOW collections. In the year 2000, it was rebranded from WOW Series to WOW Hits. It contains the following albums:
In 2008, the WOW series contemplated releasing three single discs per year instead of the annual double discs fans of the series were used to. Only one disc was ever released in the spring of 2008 before reverting to the annual format. That disc was WOW Hits 1. It is not known why the publishers decided to return to the annual format instead of the three-disc format, which was inspired by the Now That's What I Call Music! series, which releases 3 discs annually.
WOW Gospel
The WOW Gospel are released annually, beginning with WOW Gospel 1998. The focus of this series is gospel. The compilation has been issued every year since 1998.
The series consists of the following albums:
Since the release of WOW Gospel 2003, a major metropolitan city that has been influential in the field of gospel music has been honored on the album cover. For instance, New York, NY was honored due in part to the September 11, 2001 tragedy, and so on. The exception is WOW Gospel 2009 in which the United States of America was honored due to the previous year's election. Another exception was when Atlanta was honored twice - first in 2007 and 2013.
However, for Wow Gospel 2014 and Wow Gospel 2015, they did not recognize a city, however used a different background for the cover.
WOW Worship
The WOW Worship series was released annually beginning with WOW Worship Blue in 1999. The focus on this series is praise and worship. The first album featured songs performed by the worship leaders who wrote them, such as Darlene Zschech's "Shout to the Lord". It is a partnership between Integrity Music, Maranatha Music and Vineyard Music.
After several years, they switched to a contemporary Christian music format, where CCM recording artists perform praise and worship songs in their style.
The series consists of the following albums:
WOW Christmas
WOW Christmas is released sporadically, beginning in 2002. It is a series of compilation albums featuring Christmas music as recorded by contemporary Christian music artists.
The series consists of the following albums:
WOW The 90s
WOW The 90s was released in 1999. All of the songs in this collection were contemporary Christian music hits during the 1990s. Marketing and distribution responsibilities for this title was delegated to Word Entertainment.
WOW Gold
WOW Gold was released in 2000. It was a single 2-CD/2-cassette collection of contemporary Christian music from the 1960s to the time it was released. Marketing and distribution responsibilities for this title in the WOW Hits series was relegated to Brentwood Records (now Provident Music Group).
WOW for the Children
A single disc released in the year 2000, a special issue for Feed the Children.
WOW #1s
Smooth Jazz Tribute WOW Gospel
WOW Gospel Christmas
WOW Next 2007
WOW Next 2007 was a free ten-song CD given to anyone who bought any WOW compilation CD.
WOW Hymns
WOW Hymns was released in March 2007. It is a two-disc compilation album of thirty modern and classic hymns that were recorded by popular Christian musicians. The album features songs by Jeremy Camp, Chris Tomlin, Nichole Nordeman, David Crowder Band, and many other well-known groups and singers. An accompanying songbook was also released by Word Music.
WOW Gospel Essentials
WOW Gospel Worship
WOW Gospel the 90s
WOW Gospel the 2000s
WOW New & Next
WOW New & Next (2010) and WOW New & Next (2011) were 12-song CDs showcasing new artists that was sold, or given free to anyone who bought any WOW compilation CD.
WOW Hits Party Mix
Released: March 10, 2015. This album features 30 (36 in the Deluxe Edition) remixed versions of some of the top Christian songs included in previous WOW albums.
WOW Hits 20th Anniversary
Street date: March 18, 2016. This special anniversary album features 30 of the top Christian songs included in previous WOW albums.
WOW the videos
The WOW the Videos series was released annually, in conjunction with the annual CD releases, beginning with WOW 1997-1998 - Top 25 Videos; it consists of DVDs of music videos for the previous year's top Christian music hits. The video series was also released on VHS through 2003. The final WOW Hits DVD release was 2012, and postings on the WOW Facebook page indicate there are no plans for future DVD releases.