The Best Songs to Save a Dance Party

It’s 10:00 p.m. on a Friday night and the wild party you set out to throw is…well, lackluster. You look around and see your guests are scattered throughout the kitchen and living room and the energy is palpably waning.

What do you do?

You have one song to get these freaks crawling up the walls. You have one opportunity to give your party a little CPR. What song do you pick?

Which Song Can Save the Party?

As data scientists we help our clients produce original research and surveys every day. So this spring, we put together our own survey. A March Music Madness tournament, posing the question to our agency: What is the ultimate dance party song?

After much deliberation, each member of our #digitalfamily entered four songs to battle it out for the top spot.

Then, as the democratic enthusiasts that we are, we put together a bracket and voted on a series of face offs until we were left with a definitive winner.

Starting with 64 hot jams we whittled it down to only one winner.

From modern chart toppers like “Starships” by Nicki Minaj and “24k Magic” by Bruno Mars, to eighties hits like “Let’s Grooove” by Earth, Wind & Fire, and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by the incomparable Whitney Houston, our team’s taste in dance music spanned decades. But only one can reign supreme.

Final Four

“Gonna Make You Sweat” by C+C Music Factory
With its instantly recognizable (and demanding) first line “Everybody dance now!” and opening guitar riff, it’s no surprise that C+C Music Factory’s 1981 chart topper made it to our Final Four. A staple at sporting events and parties, “Gonna Make You Sweat” boasts a beat that is both nostalgic and toe-tap-worthy.

“Yeah!” by Usher
It’s 2004, the fashion is questionable, the body spray is prevalent, and Usher’s “Yeah!” is being blast at middle and high school dances across the United States. Was it the early 2000’s nostalgia for simpler times that propelled “Yeah!” to our Final Four, or was it the song’s pulsating beat and hard-to-resist chorus that made it a favorite for our music tournament? You decide.

“California Love” by Tupac Shakur
The music video for “California Love” holds the coveted No. 9 spot on MTV’s list of greatest music videos of all time, and our team agrees that it’s more than just a sick video. The song itself is about partying, and perfect for blasting the bass while cruising in a convertible, or resuscitating a dying house party.

“Jump Around” by House of Pain
A mashup of punk, jazz and hip-hop, House of Pain’s iconic hit is likely to make you do just that — jump around. The song exploded in 1992 and is still beloved by wedding and sweet 16 DJs to this day.

And the Winner is…

“Jump Around” is the champion. So jump up, jump up, and get down!

With a 8-6 vote, “Jump Around” beat out “California Love” as the best dance-party-saving song of all time.

At the end of the day, your taste in music (especially dance music) is your own. But we hope you can enjoy our eclectic sampling of dance hits throughout the decade that (we think) are sure to get your guests’ toes tapping.

You can jam out to the FULL DTC 2020 Music Madness Playlist too (click to listen).