12 songs that fill the dance floor (and why)

This list follows the Mobile Beat Top 200 by DJ Intelligence: the songs requested most often through the planning system that thousands of DJs in more than twenty countries use for weddings and parties. Its centre of gravity is the United States, so we left out American line dances such as the Cupid Shuffle. We picked songs that a band with vocals, guitar, bass, drums and keys can play live. Number 12 is our own pick, and we say so.

Each song comes with its tempo in beats per minute (bpm). Why that matters: researchers combined DJs' bpm lists with tests in which people tapped along to music. Most songs fell between 115 and 127 bpm, with a peak at 125. Around that tempo, people find it easiest to move along (Dahl et al., 2014, on Moelants, 2002).

1Dancing Queen · ABBA (1976)

Number 1 on the Mobile Beat list. At 101 bpm it is slower than the rest, and that works in your favour: guests who don't dance can still sway to it.

2Mr. Brightside · The Killers (2004)

Number 2 on the list. 148 bpm. Anyone who was a teenager in 2004 is now at a friend's wedding or the company party, and still knows the words.

3I Wanna Dance with Somebody · Whitney Houston (1987)

Number 3. 119 bpm, right in the preferred tempo range. The title is the instruction. For a band, the bar is the vocals: without a singer who can hit the chorus, the song falls flat.

4September · Earth, Wind & Fire (1978)

Number 5. 126 bpm, close to the 125 peak from the tempo research. The song dates from 1978 and, almost fifty years later, sits in the top five of requests.

5Don't Stop Believin' · Journey (1981)

Number 10. 119 bpm. The song builds and the chorus arrives late. That makes it a good song for a band to build a set around: by the chorus, everyone is on their feet.

6Shut Up and Dance · Walk the Moon (2014)

Number 14. 128 bpm, guitar pop with a title that tells you what to do. One of the youngest songs on this list, and with guitar, bass and drums a good fit for a rock band.

7Sweet Caroline · Neil Diamond (1969)

Number 17. The tempo is listed as 63 or 126 bpm: you hear a calm song, but you clap on the double beat. Between the lines of the chorus come horn stabs, and the room sings those along.

8Hey Ya! · Outkast (2003)

Number 18. Around 160 bpm, fast and cheerful. A band that plays this shows it looks beyond rock: it works for guests who would rather hear hip hop too.

9Livin' on a Prayer · Bon Jovi (1986)

Number 27. 123 bpm. The key change in the last chorus gets the final doubters out of their seats. For a rock band, this is the safest song on the list.

10Uptown Funk · Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars (2014)

Number 48. 115 bpm. Wedding singer Jordan Kahn told Fortune that this song appeals to all ages. He plays it after he has got the older guests onto the floor.

11Summer of '69 · Bryan Adams (1984)

Number 91. 139 bpm, a guitar song about looking back on your youth. It reaches the guests who were young themselves in the eighties.

12Can't Stop · Red Hot Chili Peppers (2002)

Our own pick: Can't Stop is not on the Mobile Beat list. In 2003 it spent three weeks at number 1 on the US Modern Rock chart. At 91 bpm it is the slowest of these twelve songs, but the funky guitar and fast vocals give it more drive than the number suggests. With De Peppers it is always on the setlist; see the repertoire.

How to use this list

Give the band or DJ the songs that must be in, and the songs that are off limits. Keep the list short: a band that reads the room fills in the rest. How a wedding band does that is in our archive piece on Jordan Kahn. For a wedding, fix the first dance and the must-plays three months ahead; see booking a wedding band.

De Peppers editorial team

Written by the editors at De Peppers, the Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute band from Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands. Every fact is sourced at the bottom of the piece. Spotted a mistake? Email info@mia-automation.com and we will check it.

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