List of Christian rock bands
The birth of contemporary Christian music dates back to the late 1960s, but Christian rock came into its own in the 1980s fueled by bands such as Stryper. "Billboard" magazine started to post the top 10 Christian rock songs, and some radio stations started to play Christian rock. Bands such as DC Talk, Newsboys, Jars of Clay, Audio Adrenaline and many others achieved commercial success. This list excludes bands that are primarily heavy metal or hardcore punk; those bands appear in the list of Christian metal artists and list of Christian hardcore bands, respectively. The  Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music defines contemporary Christian music (CCM) as "music that appeals to self-identified fans of contemporary Christian music on account of a perceived connection to what they regard as Christianity". Based on that definition, this list includes artists and bands who work in the Christian music industry as well as artists in the general market whose lyrics reflect their Christian faith or where either the artists themselves or outside sources identify members as performing Christian music. (Some artists resist the "Christian rock" label, but are still identified under the label by outside sources.) List of Christian