26 Oct What current songs (say, released within the last 12 months) would motivate you to get up to dance at an event?
Every year, roughly 175 – 250 songs reach the top 40 positions on the Hot 100 Pop musical chart and are collectively called the “Top 40”. Today’s Top 40 songs include a variety of styles such as Rap/Hip-Hop, Adult Contemporary, Alternate (Rock), Rhythmic, Country, and just plain “Pop”. As a DJ, it’s my job to figure out which of these songs get people to dance at social events that I play at.
With all of the new songs being released in a year, you’d think there would be dozens of songs that would be danceable. However, from my experience, very few new songs actually wind up being what I would refer to as “dance songs” (i.e., songs that actually motivate people to dance at a DJ event). Just because a song is upbeat and catchy does not guarantee that it will get people to dance. There has to be some emotional connection between the song and the audience as well – something intangible which is very hard to predict (just like predicting which song will be a “hit”).
Even more interesting is that very few songs, even after they are determined to be “danceable” in a given year, will “survive” as a dance song 2, 5, or 10 years later. Consequently, very few new dance songs become “classics”, and it’s probably the reason why you hear the same classic dance songs being played at DJ events.
Given that, what songs released within the last 12 months would motivate you to get up to dance at an event? Which ones do you think will “last” beyond this year?