Christian contemporary hit radio (sometimes abbreviated as Christian CHR, also known as contemporary Christian hits, Christian hit list, current Christian hits, Christian hit music, Christian top 40, or Christian pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries (mainly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand) that focuses on playing current and recent music as determined by the contemporary Christian music Top 40. There are several subcategories, dominantly focusing on Christian rock, Christian pop, or urban gospel music. Used alone, Christian CHR most often refers to the Christian CHR-pop format. The term Christian hit radio was coined in the early 1980s by CCM Magazine (shortly after the term contemporary hit radio was coined by Radio & Records magazine) to designate Christian Top 40 stations which continued to play hits from all Christian music genres as contemporary Christian music splintered into Christian adult contemporary, Urban contemporary gospel and other formats.
The term "Christian top 40" is also used to refer to the actual list of hit songs, and, by extension, to refer to contemporary Christian music in general.