Top 50 Dance Tracks Of 2013 (Including 50-41)

Posted by Middy on January 13, 2014

Yes we know, you may be “top _____ of 2013” listed out, but bear with us as we present you our top 50 dance tracks of 2013. In the past we have done just big room / progressive, but here we attempt to take on the whole genre, from trap to progressive to deep house. A few ground rules and biases for how these tracks were selected. “Top” means biggest and best. So the most supported and played out tracks, first and foremost, but also our own bias as well to make this list not just a carbon copy of every other one you have read. All of us are based in the US / Canada, so our perception of what is played live is a largely US worldview, though we try and take a step back. The songs have to have been released in 2013. So tracks like “Easy”, “I Could Be The One”, “Alive”, “Clarity” and “Harlem Shake”, while all huge in 2013, won’t qualify for the list because they were released in 2012. Tough luck, but I think the artists will manage. Check out 50-41 after the jump and at the end find links for 40-31, 30-21, 20-11 and the best of the best, 10-1.

50. Griz – Getting Live
The ambassador for the funky, soulful colorado electronic sound in our list, Griz kicks off our top 50 countdown with the lead single from his album “Rebel Era”. The Colorado native and Grizmatik member has been another shining example of the unique, funky soulful sound that has become quite popular in the past few years. The ability to play sax on his own records and live makes him even more unique as an artist.

49. Seven Lions & Myon & Shane 54 ft. Tove Lo – Strangers
Seven Lions recently announced that he would be taking time off from touring to produce more music, because this year he has been on the road a lot. But one of the his incredible productions came alongside Hungarian “summer of love” trance duo Myon & Shane 54, who find a very happy medium in the melodic trance hemisphere of Myon & Shane 54, with the toughness found in Seven Lions’ music.

48. Empire Of The Sun – Alive (Zedd Remix)
Empire Of The Sun’s album was one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year and like the first time around, the tunes have been the target of remixes by producers of all magnitudes. Zedd has been largely quiet on the production front this year, taking full advantage of “Clarity’s” commercial success with a packed schedule of gigs, but with this remix, he hit a home run.

47. Major Lazer ft. Bruno Mars, 2 Chainz & Tyga – Bubble Butt (Original + Dada Life Remix)
Kings of the twerk and ass shaking debauchery, Major Lazer gave us another perfect tune for just that as part of their sophomore album “Free The Universe”. The track’s deep, thumping bass is perfect for this ode to the bubble butts of the world. The Dada Life striped the original of its A-list features, and added a high powered drop to the track.

46. Arty ft. Chris James – Together We Are
It took forever to get released, but once it did, it soared into the hearts of hearts of the collective dance community and us here at FNT. Arty’s heavily reverbed piano, combined with the vocals from Chris James made this his best track of the year and one of the best of its kind.

45. Deorro – Yee
Deorro, like TJR (spoiler alert), helped bring the bounce to mainstream dance music in a big way this year. The LA based producer has been around for a while now, but this year things really took off, with “Yee” getting a free release in March and then a re-release on Hardwell’s Revealed Recordings at the end of the summer. This re-release put the track into the hands of every big name producer and on every festival stage, providing a much needed, bouncy and creative reprieve from the monotonous festival drop.

44. Steve Aoki, Chris Lake & Tujamo – Boneless
Major props to Tujamo here. His funky bouncy sound got big with “WHO” in 2012 and with “Boneless” it got revived again as a late summer must have and play for all DJs. It hit number one of Beatport and stayed there for some time, showing that funk can top the charts dominated by festival and deep house hits.

43. Oliver – MYB
Oliver have been coming at us with funky jams all year, but none have been as powerful or as well supported all year as MYB. It came out in January, but is still being rinsed out by some of the world’s biggest DJs. The relentless waves of percussion earns this a spot in our top 50.

42. Henrix, GTA & Digital Lab – Hit It
Fitting that a tune made by a bunch of Miami guys would rule WMC. It was first played by Steve in 2012, and since then the support for the track was seemingly limitless as artists rinsed this out time and time and again for the beginning half of the year.

41. Showtek ft. We Are Loud! & Sonny Wilson – Booyah
Like W&W, one cannot measure the impact that Showtek have had on dance music in the past couple years and in 2013 specifically. They had several huge tracks this year like “Slow Down”, “Get Loose”, and most recently “We Like To Party”, but the one that stands the tallest is the reggae infused, bpm changing “Booyah”.