Fill the Dance Floor: The Most Popular Wedding Reception Songs
by Chris Brower
Last Updated: February 19, 2024
I’ve DJed hundreds of events over more than a decade. The following songs are ones that have consistently done the best, filling the dance floor and keeping people happy. People frequently request these songs and are thrilled to dance to them.
If the dance party is lagging, or worse, no one is dancing, these songs can often fill up the floor quickly.
They can also help you Craft the Perfect Wedding Reception Playlist.
If you’re a new DJ (or even an experienced one), it’s essential you have copies of this music. Be sure to read The Best Ways to Get Wedding DJ Music for all the best and cheapest (and legal!) ways to acquire music.
Similarly, many of these songs have explicit and clean versions available. For guidance on which you should play, read Is It Okay for Wedding DJs to Play Music With Explicit Lyrics?
A Few Notes on the List
Many of these songs are older but remain very popular.
A lot of songs may be popular when they are first released, but people lose interest in them or simply no longer enjoy dancing to them. For example, “Old Town Road (Remix)“* by Lil Nas X (feat. Billy Ray Cyrus) was a huge hit when it was first released. But within a year or two, I had a hard time getting more than just a few people to dance to it. Hence, I have not included it in this list. Could you still fill the floor by playing it? Of course!
Similarly, certain songs were once wildly popular, but now feelings about the lyrical content have changed. For example, “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke (feat. T.I. and Pharrell Williams) was HUGELY popular when it came out. It felt like everyone was requesting it that summer. But more and more, questions came up about the song potentially glorifying rape culture. I stopped playing the song, and these days I hardly ever get a request for it. I did not include it in this list, because it no longer seems to fill the floor.
On the same note, attitudes toward the artists themselves can make a song’s popularity wane. Michael Jackson and R. Kelly were once guaranteed to fill the dance floor with excited dancers. But in recent years, due to the artists’ controversial personal lives, more people are conflicted about still dancing to their music. Fewer of the couples I DJ for still put Michael Jackson and R. Kelly on their requested song list, and fewer guests request them as well. I similarly rarely choose to play them. However, when their songs are played, they still do pretty well, so I have included them in this list.
Some artists may be wildly popular, but for some reason don’t often fill the dance floor. I don’t know why, but I’ve struggled to have much luck getting people to dance to Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Drake, Imagine Dragons, Post Malone, and others. Maybe a few people dance, but it’s rarely a huge hit. No idea why! Maybe you’ll have better luck.
In the list below, the songs are organized alphabetically by artist name (first letter). You can also search by entering terms in the Search box.
The link for each song takes you to an easy and legal mp3 purchase from Amazon. Any purchases help support this website.
So, without further ado, the most popular wedding reception songs:
| Song Title | Artist |
|---|---|
| In Da Club | 50 Cent |
| Electric Slide | (Various) |
| Hava Nagila | (Various) |
| Dancing Queen | ABBA |
| I Want It That Way | Backstreet Boys |
| Everybody (Backstreet's Back) | Backstreet Boys |
| Mony Mony | Billy Idol |
| Piano Man | Billy Joel |
| All The Small Things | blink-182 |
| Old Time Rock & Roll | Bob Seger |
| She's Everything | Brad Paisley |
| 24K Magic | Bruno Mars |
| Teach Me How to Dougie | Cali Swag District |
| I Like It | Cardi B (feat. Bad Bunny and J Balvin) |
| WAP | Cardi B (feat. Megan Thee Stallion) |
| Brick House | Commodores |
| Cupid Shuffle | Cupid |
| Where Them Girls At | David Guetta (feat. Nicki Minaj and Flo Rida) |
| Come On Eileen | Dexy's Midnight Runners |
| Cha Cha Slide | DJ Casper |
| September | Earth Wind and Fire |
| Thinking Out Loud | Ed Sheeran |
| Perfect | Ed Sheeran |
| Can't Help Falling in Love | Elvis Presley |
| Wonderful Tonight | Eric Clapton |
| At Last | Etta James |
| Sugar, We're Goin Down | Fall Out Boy |
| Low | Flo Rida (feat. T-Pain) |
| Can't Take My Eyes Off of You | Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons |
| Friends in Low Places | Garth Brooks |
| Pony | Ginuwine |
| Conga | Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine |
| Summer Nights | Grease Soundtrack |
| I Love It | Icona Pop (feat. Charli XCX) |
| Fancy | Iggy Azalea (feat. Charli XCX) |
| Wop | J. Dash |
| Don't Stop Believin' | Journey |
| Faithfully | Journey |
| Can't Stop the Feeling! | Justin Timberlake |
| SexyBack | Justin Timberlake (feat. Timbaland) |
| Your Love Is My Drug | Ke$ha |
| Footloose | Kenny Loggins |
| Get Low | Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz (feat. Ying Yang Twins) |
| Tutti Frutti | Little Richard |
| Macarena (Bayside Boys Remix) | Los del Rio |
| Despacito | Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee (feat. Justin Bieber) |
| Can't Hold Us | Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (feat. Ray Dalton) |
| Uptown Funk | Mark Ronson (feat. Bruno Mars) |
| Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough | Michael Jackson |
| P.Y.T. | Michael Jackson |
| The Way You Make Me Feel | Michael Jackson |
| Party in the U.S.A. | Miley Cyrus |
| This Is How We Do It | Montell Jordan |
| Sweet Caroline | Neil Diamond |
| Hot in Herre | Nelly |
| Starships | Nicki Minaj |
| Bye Bye Bye | NSYNC |
| When a Man Loves a Woman | Percy Sledge |
| Fireball | Pitball |
| Timber | Pitball (feat. Kesha) |
| Don't Stop the Party | Pitbull (feat. TJR) |
| Don't Stop Me Now | Queen |
| Ignition (Remix) | R. Kelly |
| Cotton Eye Joe | Rednex |
| We Found Love | Rihanna (feat. Calvin Harris) |
| It's Tricky | Run D.M.C. |
| I Don't Feel Like Dancin' | Scissor Sisters |
| Temperature | Sean Paul |
| Man! I Feel Like a Woman! | Shania Twain |
| We Are Family | Sister Sledge |
| Crank That (Soulja Boy) | Soulja Boy |
| Wannabe | Spice Girls |
| Copperhead Road | Steve Earle |
| Apache | Sugarhill Gang |
| Whatever You Like | T.I. |
| Shake It Off | Taylor Swift |
| Love Shack | The B-52's |
| Twist and Shout | The Beatles |
| Build Me Up Buttercup | The Foundations |
| Shout | The Isley Brothers |
| ABC | The Jackson 5 |
| I Want You Back | The Jackson 5 |
| Mr. Brightside | The Killers |
| Unchained Melody | The Righteous Brothers |
| My Girl | The Temptations |
| Yeah! | Usher (feat. Ludacris and Lil Jon) |
| Wobble | V.I.C. |
| Brown Eyed Girl | Van Morrison |
| Ice Ice Baby | Vanilla Ice |
| Y.M.C.A. | Village People |
| Shut Up and Dance | WALK THE MOON |
| I Will Always Love You | Whitney Houston |
| I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) | Whitney Houston |
Ready for the complete guide to becoming a wedding DJ? Here you go.
Related Articles:
- The Best Ways to Get Wedding DJ Music
- Is It Okay for Wedding DJs to Play Music With Explicit Lyrics?
- What If No One Is Dancing?
- How to Craft the Perfect Wedding Reception Playlist
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