40 Favorite Dance Songs to Get the Party Started

Dance Songs Ideas for the Christmas Party Season - Rodolfo Clix

MCPS (the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society) asked over five hundred registered DJs across Britain which disco tracks are guaranteed to get even the most reluctant party dancing.

With eleven UK Chart toppers, the resulting playlist includes something for every age and taste.

Which Artists made the Recommended List?

Well, everyone from A (ABBA) to W (Whitney Houston), with only Michael Jackson appearing twice – plus once with his brothers, The Jackson 5. Bands did fairly well, while understandably there are only a couple of duets on the list – duets being notoriously more suitable for romantic grooves than for dance hits.

In fact, most of the usual suspects are there, with the sole exception of Aretha Franklin, who was recently crowned queen of the charts in the Rolling Stone magazine's own list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".

ABBA's Number One Hit Dancing Queen Tops the Pops

Yet in the ProDub DJs' professional opinion, the perennial top of the pops is Björn, Benny, Agnetha & Frida’s Dancing Queen – Abba's UK Number One hit from their 1976 album Arrival – reaping 18 per cent of the overall vote.

Here is how Darren Haynes, Marketing Manager at MCPS-ProDub, commented ABBA's triumph: "From the opening strains of wah-wah-waaah, Dancing Queen is immediately recognisable and guaranteed to get your toes tapping. The power in the song is the unique combination of the lyrics and the melody. The master songwriters, Benny and Bjorn, got it so right".

The Oldies are the Goodies

Whoever assumed that the Seventies were the ultimate dance decade with the boom of disco clubbing, should maybe think again: in fact, while nine disco hits are from the 1970s and just as many represent the 1990s, no fewer than fourteen tracks in this Top 40 were released in the 1980s.

The eariest classic single on the list is Van Morrison's evergreen Brown Eyed Girl (1967) – which funnily enough did not even hit the chart in the UK – while the most recent dance hit is Wiley's Wearing My Rolex (2008).

All-time Top 40 Dancefloor Filler Tracks

1. Dancing Queen - Abba (1976)
2. I Don't Feel Like Dancin' - Scissor Sisters (2006)
3. Valerie - Mark Ronson ft. Amy Winehouse (2007)
4. YMCA - Village People (1978)
5. Cha Cha Slide - DJ Casper (2004)
6. Love Shack - B52s (1990)
7. Grease Megamix - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John (1990)
8. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson (1983)
9. Build Me Up Buttercup - The Foundations (1968)
10. You're The First, The Last, My Everything - Barry White (1974)
11. Don't Stop Me Now - Queen (1979)
12. I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) - Whitney Houston (1987)
13. Show Me Love - Robin S (1993)
14. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers (1988)
15. Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison (1967)
16. Insomnia - Faithless (1995)
17. I Want You Back - The Jacksons (1970)
18. Jump Around - House Of Pain (1992)
19. Summer of '69 - Bryan Adams (1985)
20. Young Hearts Run Free - Candi Staton (1976)
21. Man! I Feel Like A Woman - Shania Twain (1999)
22. (I've Had) The Time Of My Life - Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes (1987)
23. Love Really Hurts Without You - Billy Ocean (1976)
24. Always Have Always Will - Ace Of Base (1998)
25. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson (1979)
26. Walking On Sunshine - Katrina & The Waves (1985)
27. Livin' On A Prayer - Bon Jovi (1986)
28. Celebration - Kool & The Gang (1980)
29. Chain Reaction - Diana Ross (1986)
30. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana (1991)
31. Ride On Time - Black Box (1989)
32. It's Raining Men - The Weather Girls (1983)
33. Come On Eileen - Dexys Midnight Runners (1982)
34. Murder On The Dancefloor - Sophie Ellis-Bextor (2001)
35. I'm In The Mood For Dancing - The Nolans (1979)
36. Wearing My Rolex - Wiley (2008)
37. The Best - Tina Turner (1989)
38. Feels Like I'm In Love - Kelly Marie (1980)
39. Dance The Night Away - The Mavericks (1998)
40. My My My - Armand Van Helden (2004)

On a side note, budding song writers maybe ought to take due account of the fact that in this party music hit chart, the word 'dance' appears in as many as six titles (that's 15 per cent of the total count!), followed closely – and not unsurprisingly – by 'love', mentioned in five instances.

Sources:

• MCPS (the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society)
• The ProDub Licence website.

Maddalena Delli - Maddalena Delli is an Italian freelance journalist and professional travel writer who also enjoys blogging, web design and photography.

Comments

• Current
• Pop Music
• 80s
• 90s
• 50s – 60s
• More

• 70s
• Disco