"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 will 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)."
Composition
"Holy Forever" is composed in the key of D♭ with a tempo of 72 beats per minute, and a musical time signature of .
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 video
The official lyric video of "Holy Forever" was published via Chris Tomlin's YouTube channel on March 29, 2022.
Track listing
Personnel
Adapted from AllMusic.
Jacob Arnold — drums, percussion
Adam Ayan — mastering engineer
Jonsal Barrientes — choir/chorus
Dallan Beck — editing
Jesse Brock — mixing assistant
Chris Brown — background vocals, choir/chorus
Shantay Brown — choir/chorus
Daniel Carson — acoustic guitar, choir/chorus, electric guitar
Tamera Chipp — choir/chorus
Chad Chrisman — A&R
Courtlan Clement — electric guitar
Nickie Conley — background vocals
Elevation Worship — primary artist
Enaka Enyong — choir/chorus
Jason Eskridge — background vocals
Bryan Fowler — acoustic guitar, background vocals, bass, electric guitar, keyboards, producer, programmer, synthesizer programming Sam Gibson — mixing Ben Glover — acoustic guitar, background vocals, choir/chorus, electric guitar, engineer, keyboards, producer, programming Lindsay Glover — choir/chorus Tarik Henry — choir/chorus Mark Hill — bass Tiffany Hudson — choir/chorus Tommy Iceland — choir/chorus Jenn Johnson — background vocals Taylor Johnson — acoustic guitar, electric guitar Graham King — engineer Benji Kurokose — choir/chorus Brandon Lake — primary artist, vocals Paul Mabury — drums Jerry McPherson — electric guitar Matthew Melton — bass Buckley Miller — recording Sean Moffitt — mixing Gordon Mote — piano Brad O'Donnell — A&R Colton Price — editing, programming David Ramirez — programming Sophie Shear — choir/chorus Jonathan Smith — background vocals, Hammond B3, organ, piano, producer, programming Jeff Sojka — background vocals, choir/chorus, drums, electric guitar, engineer, keyboards, producer, programming Isaiah Templeton — choir/chorus Chris Tomlin — choir/chorus, primary artist, vocals Bria Valderama — choir/chorus Doug Weier — mixing Jordan Welch — choir/chorus