Which songs keep a wedding dance floor full?
No single song does it. A wedding puts children, the couple's friends, their parents and their grandparents in one room, and each group dances to the music it grew up with. The job is rotation: never more than three songs in a row from one era, and a song that crosses the age groups whenever the floor thins.
The list is grouped by moment in the reception, from the song after the first dance to the last dance. Check the decade as you read down each table. The spread is deliberate, and it includes songs from the UK, the US, Australia and the Philippines, because the room decides what counts as a song everybody knows.
The notes under "Where it fits" are our suggestions for where a song can sit in a set. They are not facts about the song, and the list is not a ranking or a measure of popularity. Titles, artists and years were checked against MusicBrainz or Wikipedia when this page was written. We list no keys or tempos, because bands change both.
Opening the floor
| Song | Artist | Year | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) | Whitney Houston | 1987 | Opener straight after the first dance |
| Uptown Funk | Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars | 2014 | Early floor filler with horns |
| Shut Up and Dance | Walk the Moon | 2014 | Second or third song |
| Can't Stop the Feeling! | Justin Timberlake | 2016 | Family-friendly opener |
| Valerie | Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse | 2007 | Early in set one, UK rooms |
| Love Is in the Air | John Paul Young | 1977 | Disco opener, Australian rooms especially |
Songs for every age in the room
| Song | Artist | Year | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twist and Shout | The Beatles | 1963 | Brings grandparents and children up |
| Dancing Queen | ABBA | 1976 | Mid-set, crosses generations |
| Brown Eyed Girl | Van Morrison | 1967 | Easy singalong, first set |
| Sweet Caroline | Neil Diamond | 1969 | Singalong near the end of a set |
| Build Me Up Buttercup | The Foundations | 1968 | Light and bouncy, early evening |
| Shout | The Isley Brothers | 1959 | Call and response, end of set one |
| Awitin Mo at Isasayaw Ko | VST & Company | 1978 | Disco for a Filipino crowd |
Peak of the night
| Song | Artist | Year | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mr. Brightside | The Killers | 2003 | Peak of set two |
| Livin' on a Prayer | Bon Jovi | 1986 | Late, when the room is loud |
| Don't Stop Believin' | Journey | 1981 | Late singalong, US rooms especially |
| Yeah! | Usher featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris | 2004 | Friends of the couple, late |
| Crazy in Love | Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z | 2003 | High point with a horn section |
| Hey Ya! | Outkast | 2003 | Fast, keep it short |
| I Gotta Feeling | The Black Eyed Peas | 2009 | Start of the final run |
| Summer of '69 | Bryan Adams | 1984 | Guitar-band peak, suits Indian rooms too |
| You're the Voice | John Farnham | 1986 | Late singalong for Australian rooms |
| The Horses | Daryl Braithwaite | 1990 | Arms-in-the-air closer in Australia |
Slow breather
| Song | Artist | Year | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| I Don't Want to Miss a Thing | Aerosmith | 1998 | One slow song mid-set |
| Endless Love | Lionel Richie and Diana Ross | 1981 | Duet, brings older couples up |
| Never Tear Us Apart | INXS | 1987 | Slow and dramatic, late evening |
| Kiss Me | Sixpence None the Richer | 1997 | Gentle breather, not fully slow |
Last dance
| Song | Artist | Year | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| (I've Had) The Time of My Life | Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes | 1987 | Duet finale |
| Don't Look Back in Anger | Oasis | 1995 | Closing singalong, UK rooms |
| Hey Jude | The Beatles | 1968 | Last song, long ending for a circle |
| Closing Time | Semisonic | 1998 | Wind-down before the final song |
| Angels | Robbie Williams | 1997 | Slow final singalong |
Start a setlist with these 32 songs
Opens StageFloww with the titles typed in. Free plan, no card. Search can miss a song, and you can add it by hand.
What does a two-set dance running order look like?
Set one wins the room. Set two is where the peak goes, about two thirds of the way through, with the last dance held back for the end.
This running order is one suggestion built from the list above. Change it to suit your band and the room.
Set one
- I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)
- Valerie
- Brown Eyed Girl
- Uptown Funk
- Dancing Queen
- Build Me Up Buttercup
- Can't Stop the Feeling!
- Twist and Shout
- Shout
Set two
- Love Is in the Air
- Shut Up and Dance
- Crazy in Love
- Sweet Caroline
- I Don't Want to Miss a Thing
- I Gotta Feeling
- Mr. Brightside (the peak starts here)
- Livin' on a Prayer
- Summer of '69
- Don't Stop Believin'
- Closing Time
- Hey Jude
Set one ends on a song with a part for the crowd, so people go to the bar wanting more. In set two the slow song comes before the peak, never after it. Swap in the regional songs where the room calls for them: the two Australian closers, the Filipino disco song, the UK singalong.
How do you work with the couple's must-play and do-not-play lists?
Ask for both lists when you take the booking, and ask for them in writing. Then treat them differently.
The do-not-play list is a rule. Take those songs out of the running order and out of your spares, and tell every band member, because the risk is a guest asking for one of them at midnight and the bass player saying yes. It outranks any request on the night. The guide to taking song requests at a gig covers how to turn a guest down without an argument.
The must-play list is a set of fixed points, not a running order. Couples tend to list songs by how much they like them, with no thought for where each one falls in the night. Place each of their songs where its energy belongs, and tell the couple you will do that. If the list is longer than about a third of your playing time, say so early. A night made only of one couple's favourites often leaves their relatives sitting down.
Where a must-play song is one you have never performed, be honest about whether you can learn it in time. Offer the DJ or a playlist in the break for anything you turn down.
Finally, find out who is in the room. Ask the couple the age range of the guests, where the families are from and whether there is a song the family always dances to. That one answer tells you more than any list on the internet, including this one.
What does StageFloww do for a wedding dance set, and where does it stop?
StageFloww, the setlist and stage-lyrics app, holds the running order and shows the band the same list. In the setlist builder you drag songs into order, label the opener and the encore, and put the couple's instructions in each song's notes. The builder adds up the minutes as you go. The Free plan allows 40 songs per setlist, so both sets above fit with room for spares.
It will not tell you what a particular room wants, and it does not rank songs. Its search needs a connection and can miss a song, so add the songs at home before the wedding and not during the meal. It does not collect a couple's choices in advance either: you type their lists in yourself.
Work out how many songs your two sets need with the set length calculator, and see the page for wedding bands for the rest of the day.