What are some songs that will get the dance floor moving?

With many brides/grooms in the 25-40 age bracket, we believe it's crucial to hire a band with a good knowledge of current musical trends. The vendor should have a solid list of songs that connect with people of these generations. Gaining information from clients on their musical desires + the demographic of their wedding guests is really important in the planning stages as it will help shape the bands set lists.

In our experience a mix of current artists (Bruno Mars - "Uptown Funk", Walk The Moon "Shut Up & Dance", Justin Timberlake "Can't Stop The Feeling") plus all of the classic retro 80's and 90's tunes are very popular dance floor fillers (Daryl Braithwaite "Horses", Genuine "Pony", The Romantics "What I Like About You", Tina Turner "Simply The Best", John Farnham "You're The Voice", The Proclaimers "500 Miles" etc) is always a winning formula.

Whilst most of the guests will be a similar age to the bride/groom, it's also always a nice touch to add in a few older classics for the parents and grandparents along the way (The Beatles "Come Together" "All You Need Is Love", Elvis "Can't Help Falling In Love" "A Little Less Conversation", Stevie Wonder "Signed Sealed Delivered" etc).

Here are some suggestions:

Walk The Moon - Shut Up And Dance

Ronson  Mark Feat  Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk

V.I.C. - Wobble

Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling

Black Eyed Peas - Let's Get it Started

Bruno Mars - 24k Magic

Sister Sledge - VVe Are Family

B-52's - Love Shack

Backstreet Boys - Everybody (Backstreet's Back)

Kool & The Gang  - Celebration

Sheeran Ed - Thinking Out Loud

DNCE - Cake By The Ocean

Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody

LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem

Pink - Raise Your Glass

Pharrell Williams - Happy

A bit of Chuck Berry goes a long way...

Some time ago I was performing music in the Australian Ski fields, (I have been a regular there for some years). People party pretty hard there - young and old.

The manager of the venue asked me to have material in my repertoire that was "contemporary" so I spent about a month and a half rehearsing songs that were no older that a few months off the radio. When I got to the gig, on the first night, I started playing the songs. People there were mostly, under twenty five years old. Several people came to the stage area and called out, "Can you play some classic songs". "What would you like to hear?" i replied.

Much to my surprise, they all were calling out for the classics. Straight away they were all dancing. They were there to have a good time.

I think these songs have survived the test of time and have gone down in history for a reason.

These songs cross over so many borders - age, and all the variety of sub cultures in modern society.

Who could believe that Earth Wind and Fire are still played on the radio now after, forty plus years? Songs like "September" 

What a song!

Of  course there some notable exceptions to the rule with some great new songs out there right now ... songs like "up town funk" are a must for some couples but we can't forget the older ones - uncles, Aunts, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers.

At a wedding there are usually all possible age groups represented.

My take is this: there are thousands of songs out there from yester-year. take your pick. If the songs has a strong recognisable melody and is set to a rhythm that is contagious and foot-tapping ish. You can't go wrong.

I used to play Piano Bars in the Caribbean. I had to sing, "Dancing Queen" three times a night. 

"Don't stop believing" (Although more so for American Audiences);

"Brown Eyed girl"

"September" (Earth Wind and Fire)

Anything from ABBA

"You'll Never find' (Lou Rawls)

“Red Red Wine”

“No Woman no Cry”

“Mustang Sally”

“When I saw her standing there” The Beatles

Anything from the Beatles

“Rockin’ all over the world”

“Love is in the air”

“Throw your arms around me”

“Dancing on the ceiling”

“Young Americans”

“Suspicious minds”

Anything from ABBA (I think I said that … haha …)

Of course for Aussie audiences:

"Eagle Rock”

"Horses" (not so much a dance song, but a great ice breaker/mood setter/mood enhancer)

Anything from Michael Jackson

"All night long" Lionel Richi

"Stayin' Alive" Bee Gees

"Boogie Wonderland" (Earth Wind and Fire)

Breakout (Classic eighties)

"Copa Cabana" (Cheesy as)

Anything from ABBA (Did I say that before? … lol …)

"Signed sealed delivered" Stevie Wonder

"Let's Groove"

Modern songs such as:

"Valerie" Amy wine house, seem to work too, but nothing like the classics. They seem to engender a sense of Nostalgia ... who knows what it is about those songs.

Anyway, I say this as someone who has watched the dance floor from the stage for nearly twenty years. Sometimes 5-6 nights per week months on end in party hot-spots. 

This doesn't make me right, and not intended as a boast, but I think many will agree. Especially professionals who's job it is.

Of course it's different in a night club on a Friday night - but that's a whole different environment. 

There are some country songs that are very cheesy but alwasy work:

"Achy Breaky Heart"

"Boot Scootin' Boogie"

... and of course "Ring of Fire"

"Proud Mary"

Anyway, 

Happy wedding

Simon Evans

The short answer... it really depends on your guests.

I can give you a list of great songs (in my opinion) but a good DJ/band will read the crowd and play music to suit.

Over 10 years doing weddings and I have never had a SET list of songs to play. Of course you have an idea and add some of your own personal favourites but many of the songs played will be picked in the moment to suit your guests.

Hi Lucy

The honest truth is you'll never please all of the people, but at a wedding people are more likely to dance to music they are not generally exposed to. I have found you really can't go wrong with a 70's dance mix, think "Saturday Night Fever", "Grease". A good DJ can read a crowd and keep them up dancing all night, but you should discuss your desires for the dance part of the night beforehand so that your DJ has all of the right music on hand

Have a fantastic day

Dominique

Hi Lucy, It's an interesting question as it depends on the age of the crowd, their culture and what music the majority of the crowd enjoy and want to dance to. Younger kids and teenagers can't go past dancing to Shake it off by Taylor Swift, Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars and Can't stop the feeling by Justin Timberlake, and Shut up and Dance with Me by Walk the Moon. The over 45 year old crowd love to dance to Brown Eyed Girl or Eagle Rock, but may also love the retro tracks like Mamma Mia and Nutbush City Limits. I played at a Spanish Wedding last weekend and they went nuts on the dancefloor to Conga by Gloria Estefan. There are some others who love R&B and dance to anything Usher and especially Low by Flo Rida. Then there's a pub crowd who love dancing to Are you gonna be by girl by Jet or the classics of Queen or Jimmy Barnes. It really does depend on the crowd, what becomes a dancing hit at one wedding may not be one at yours. I would recommend a good DJ who can read a crowd and is aware of what the crowd are responding to. An exprienced DJ knows what style and genre of music will get your crowd to their feet. If you are playing IPod though, it's tricky. I think the other responces have included some great dance tracks, but make sure you include the songs YOU like dancing to!

This is easy, some of my favourite floor fillers includes the nutbush, Macarena, YMCA and blame it on the boogie

I agree with all the other suggestions and probably the most effective song to start with is "Nutbush" followed by Uptown Funk. :)

Hello Lucy, Our music database consists of over 60,000 songs from 1940 right up to every month to date. Picking the right list of songs will be subject to a number of factors, and the more experienced your dj is in reading crowds and knowing what their cultural background respond to best is usually what works best on the night. We offer a Free Wedding Consultation where we go into this in detail, discuss your backgrounds, your guests age groups, and then discuss what usually works best. We encourage our clients to make any requests they want played on the night, take note of songs they do not want played on the night, and ask them if they wish for their guests to make requests on the night. Some so some prefer not to go with that option. In short, it is a little like fishing, trying different baits to see what they will respond to and then keep feeding them what they want. Similarly, with music this process helps build atmosphere on the dance floor. Our aim to to please the client and their guests therefore we cover music from 50's rock n roll, 60s, 70's 80's & 90s Retro, dance, pop, rock, and from early 2000's hits through to today's current party anthems. In having said this we would be happy to email you lists from all the eras that we have found over 30 years of experience has helped ups build at weddings over the years. Feel free to reach out to us and we will comply. Thank you Lucy Kind Regards, John Koukoulas PRO DJ'S AUSTRALIA

Hey Lucy, A tip I give my clients if they are putting together their playlist is "if people don't know the words to a song they are less likely to dance ... part of dancing is singing". Goodluck!