Rolling Stone lists its 200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time (listen to playlist)

July 22, 2022

Rolling Stone has just published the latest of their genre lists: the 200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time. What qualifies as a dance song? Here’s a bit from their intro:

After paying homage to the godfather of the extended groove, Mr. James Brown, our story of dance music begins in the mid-1970s with disco, and moves into early Eighties club sounds like electro and Latin freestyle. It gets born again when disco is re-engineered as house music in Chicago and techno in Detroit, and mutates with almost comic velocity into the Nineties rave explosion that produced everything from jungle to trance to gabba to garage, and eventually the EDM and dubstep bonanzas of the 2000s. These sounds all had peak moments of exposure, but they never fade away: drum ”n’ bass is having a new moment right now, and there are house songs here from the past few years.

Their list is full of great choices from pretty much all the usual suspects — from the Bee Gees to Bjork to Beyonce, from Chic to Corina to The Chemical Brothers, from LCD Soundsystem to LFO to L’Trimm, from Frankie Knuckles to Frankie Goes to Hollywood, from Robyn to Robin S — and it’s hard to argue with their #1, but of course lists like this were made for arguing about. You can check out Rolling Stone’s full list of 200 bangers here, and check out the Top 50 below.

UPDATE: Some awesome person made a Spotify list featuring all the songs on the list that were streaming — 198 of them — and you can listen below.

Rolling Stone recently revamped their 200 Greatest Hip Hop Albums of All Time list.

Rolling Stone – Greatest Dance Songs of All Time (Top 50)

50 Paperclip People, ‘Throw’ (1994)
49 Zebra Katz feat. Njena Redd Foxxx, ‘Ima Read (MikeQ & B. Ames Remix)’ (2012)
48 Moodymann, ‘Don’t You Want My Love’ (2000)
47 KH (a.k.a. Four Tet), ‘Only Human’ (2019)
46 Azealia Banks feat. Lazy Jay, ‘212’ (2011)
45 Diana Ross, ‘I’m Coming Out’ (1980)
44 Inner City, ‘Good Life’ (1988)
43 Gloria Gaynor, ‘I Will Survive’ (1978)
42 Nero, ‘Promises’ (2011)
41 Frankie Knuckles feat. Jamie Principle, ‘Baby Wants to Ride’ (1987)
40 SOPHIE, ‘Immaterial’ (2018)
39 Sylvester, ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’ (1978)
38 Underground Resistance, ‘Transition’ (2002)
37 Deee-Lite, ‘Groove Is in the Heart’ (1990)
36 Eric B. & Rakim, ‘Paid in Full (Seven Minutes of Madness — The Coldcut Remix)’ (1988)
35 Manu Dibango, ‘Soul Makossa’ (1972)
34 Sister Sledge, ‘We Are Family’ (1979)
33 Rhythim Is Rhythim, ‘Strings of Life’ (1987)
32 The Chemical Brothers, ‘Chemical Beats’ (1995)
31 Incredible Bongo Band, ‘Apache’ (1973)
30 Kaytranada, ‘Lite Spots’ (2016)
29 Björk, ‘Big Time Sensuality’ (1993)
28 AceMo feat. John FM, ‘Where They At???’ (2019)
27 Chaka Khan, ‘I’m Every Woman’ (1978)
26 Tom Tom Club, ‘Genius of Love’ (1981)
25 fr, ‘Flash Light’ (1977)
24 Model 500, ‘Night Drive (Time, Space, Transmat)’ (1985)
23 Daft Punk, ‘Da Funk’ (1995)
22 DJ Snake feat. Lil Jon, ‘Turn Down for What’ (2013)
21 Lil Louis, ‘French Kiss’ (1989)
20 Kylie Minogue, ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’ (2001)
19 Prince, ‘Controversy’ (1981)
18 New Order, ‘Blue Monday’ (1983)
17 Beltram, ‘Energy Flash’ (1990)
16 Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris, ‘We Found Love’ (2011)
15 James Brown, ‘Get on the Good Foot’ (1972)
14 Adonis, ‘No Way Back’ (1986)
13 First Choice, ‘Let No Man Put Asunder’ (1977)
12 Kraftwerk, ‘Trans-Europe Express’ (1977)
11 Madonna, ‘Vogue’ (1990)
10 Disclosure feat. Sam Smith, ‘Latch’ (2013)
9 Robin S., ‘Show Me Love’ (1992)
8 On the House and Marshall Jefferson, ‘Move Your Body (The House Music Anthem)’ (1986)
7 Robyn, ‘Dancing on My Own’ (2010)
6 Shannon, ‘Let the Music Play’ (1983)
5 Indeep, ‘Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life’ (1982)
4 Frankie Knuckles and Jamie Principle, ‘Your Love’ (1986)
3 Chic, ‘Good Times’ (1979)
2 Daft Punk, ‘One More Time’ (2000)
1 Donna Summer, ‘I Feel Love’ (1977)