The 101 Greatest Dance Songs Of the '90s
Matt Stopera, Brian Galindo
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98. "Girls and Boys" by Blur
The song is equal parts Britpop and dance pop. And a great reminder of just how brilliant Blur was throughout the '90s.
96. "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" by Will Smith
Will Smith isn't exactly what you think of when you think "'90s dance," BUUUT you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone between the ages of 26 and 30 who hasn't had a moment with this song at a middle school dance. Plus, he never had to curse in his songs to sell records!
95. "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" by Eiffel 65
Two things that are probably true about this song: 1) The only words everyone knows/remembers are "I'm blue da-be-dee-da-ba die..." 2) This was likely everyone's first Napster download.
90. "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred
Yes, this song is cheesy as hell, but it doesn't ever try to be anything other than what it is: a fun, catchy, campy dance song.
87. "Born Slippy (Nuxx)" by Underworld
The standout track from the Trainspotting soundtrack — which, FTR, is a solid, near perfect soundtrack. Also, like, we've already talked about Trainspotting twice on this list so far.
74. "Dreamer" by Livin' Joy
Female vocals set to a house beat = everything you could want from an early-'90s dance song.
72. "Music Sounds Better With You" by Stardust
No, this wasn’t a Daft Punk song! It was actually the band Stardust, which featured Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter — which is why it sounded so much like a track off Discovery.
65. "No Limit" by 2 Unlimited
This is possibly the most aggressive beat from the '90s. It's like they're strumming a GIANT rubber band.
64. "Poison" by Bell Biv DeVoe
This song is not only a ‘90s classic, but it’s also arguably better than anything New Edition ever put out.
60. "Too Funky" by George Michael
A wonderfully up-tempo track that had an accompanying music video full of supermodels, basically about as classic George Michael as you can get!
57. "Strike It Up" by Black Box
There was a big debate whether this was better than "Everybody Everybody." In the end, "Everybody Everybody" is the winner.
47. "Everybody's Free" by Rozalla
This song makes me want to drop out of life, join a nudist colony, and scream, "EVERYBOODY'S FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE TO FEEL GOOD."
45. "Hey Mr. D.J." by Zhané
Great harmonies, chill vibe, rap bridge; all the things you needed to make a perfect early-‘90s R&B dance song.
37. "Ready to Go" by Republica
Unfortunately this song has been co-opted by car commercials, but regardless, it still gives me '90s teen-drama-movie school-dance vibes.
29. "Around the World" by Daft Punk
Honestly, Daft Punk could release this song today and everyone would say it’s a genius bop — like how many other bands have songs that sound as good today as they did 20 years ago?! And yes, this came out two decades ago!!!
28. "The Sign" by Ace of Base
Ace of Base invented the awkward middle school dance with this song, which you can’t really slow dance to but can’t grind to either.