Songfacts®:

• This song started out as a hymn written in 1885 by the Rev. Carl Boberg, a Swedish evangelist, who set it to a Swedish folk melody. The hymn was translated into German, then Russian, and when an English missionary Stuart Hine working in the Ukraine heard a native congregation sing the Russian words, he produced an English version. The hymn didn't gain worldwide popularity until it was incorporated into the services of the Billy Graham Crusades in the 1950s.
• Elvis won his first Grammy for this song: the 1967 Grammy for the Best Sacred, Religious or Inspirational Recording. Surprisingly, Elvis won only three Grammy Awards: this one, the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1970, and another Best Sacred, Religious or Inspirational Recording for his album, He Touched Me in 1972. The Grammy Awards were first given out in 1959, and for about eight years they were clearly biased against rock music, favoring artists like Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.
• In honor of the 87-year-old dobro player Brother Oswald, Vince Gill performed this with a dobro at the Grand Ole Opry in 1999. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Bertrand - Paris, France
• The hymn was included in the 2002 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) list of the top 365 "Songs Of The Century.
• BBC's Songs Of Praise ranked "How Great Thou Art" second in a 2019 nationwide poll of the most loved hymns.
• Carrie Underwood first performed the hymn with Vince Gill on the ACM Presents: Girls Night Out show televised on CBS on April 22, 2011. They received a standing ovation, and shortly after, Underwood's single version of "How Great Thou Art" topped the iTunes' Top Gospel Songs. She later included it on her 2021 gospel album, My Savior.
• The song was first translated to English in 1949. To celebrate the 75th anniversary of that occasion, 16 prominent artists from the contemporary Christian music (CCM) and country music scenes joined forces to create a special rendition titled "How Great Thou Art (Until That Day)." Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Hillary Scott, Cody Carnes, Kari Jobe, Naomi Raine, TAYA, Ryan Ellis, Jon Reddick, Blessing Offor, Brian Johnson, Jenn Johnson, Matt Maher, Pat Barrett, Benjamin William Hastings, and Mitch Wong joined together to record the new version.