"Holy Forever" is a song by American contemporary Christian musician Chris Tomlin. It impacted Christian radio in the United States on March 10, 2023, as the fourth single from Tomlin's fourteenth studio album, Always (2022). Tomlin co-wrote the song with Brian Johnson, Jason Ingram, Jenn Johnson, and Phil Wickham. Jonathan Smith handled the production of the single. "Holy Forever" peaked at No. 1 on the US Hot Christian Songs chart published by Billboard. It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song at the 2023 Grammy Awards.

Background

On July 15, 2022, Chris Tomlin announced that he would be releasing a new worship project titled Always on September 9, releasing "Holy Forever" as the first promotional single from the album. "Holy Forever" followed the previously released singles "I See You," "Always," and "Yahweh (No One)." Speaking with Christian magazine Worship Leader, Tomlin described the song as "the anchor" of Always.

Composition

"Holy Forever" is composed in the key of D♭ with a tempo of 72 beats per minute, and a musical time signature of 44.

Reception

= Critical response

= Jonathan Andre in his 365 Days of Inspiring Media review spotlighted the track as one of three songs to listen to on Always, opining that "'Holy Forever' is my favourite song from Chris Tomlin’s Always, as this track becomes my favourite Chris Tomlin ballad, ever since 'Jesus' way back in 2016." Timothy Yap of JubileeCast gave a positive review of the album, saying, "Solely focused on God in his glorious splendor surrounded with a soul-stirring chorus, this reminds us of the type of worship mentioned in Revelation 4 and 5." Gerod Bass of Worship Musician magazine wrote a positive review of the song, saying it "touches on the ever faithful theme with its soaring chorus notes and reverent and honest worship."

= Accolades

=

Commercial performance

"Holy Forever" debuted at No. 43 on the US Hot Christian Songs chart dated July 30, 2022.

Music videos

The official lyric video of "Holy Forever" was published via Chris Tomlin's YouTube channel on March 29, 2022. A live performance of the song, featuring Brian and Jenn Johnson, was released on his channel on April 28, 2023, which was recorded during his seventh Good Friday Nashville concert in Bridgestone Arena.

Cover versions

On October 6, 2023, a cover of "Holy Forever" by American singer CeCe Winans was released on YouTube. On October 18, 2023, a modern choral version of the song, arranged by Jay Rouse, was released on YouTube.

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from AllMusic.

Charts

Release history

References

External links

Lyrics and sheet music for the song on PraiseCharts