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There aren't many acronyms as controversial as EDM. Across the smoking battlefields of YouTube comment sections, [prestige music outlets](http://www.gq. In that location aren't many acronyms as controversial as EDM. Across the smoking battlefields of YouTube annotate sections, expiry of EDM, we felt it necessary to remind people that the genre isn't only alive and well—information technology'southward fascinating, critically underappreciated, and part of the very foundation of gimmicky pop'south DNA.

But what is it? That'south the difficulty of constructing a listing of the best EDM songs of all time—anywhere y'all depict the boundaries is sure to conflict with someone'south hard-fought cultural territory. But in truth, although "EDM" has been an incredibly useful marketing term, information technology has never been a concrete musical identity. It'southward more similar a gear shift—a fusion of sentimentality and sonic torque that's transformed electronic music from a niche genre to a global miracle.

We relied on instinct when devising this listing—if something walks similar EDM, talks like EDM, and bangs similar EDM, that's probably what information technology is, regardless of anyone's bogus high vs. low cultural carve up. Like information technology or non, in that location's a place for all of the states somewhere out in that location under the large tent.

101. 2NE1 - "I Am the Best" (2011)

Nobody embraced EDM as enthusiastically—and successfully—during its heyday as the K-pop industry. While American pop stars normally smoothed down trip the light fantastic toe music's backlog to brand their crossover hits, Grand-pop groups like 2NE1 did the reverse, pushing the sound to maximalist extremes. Here, CL's bratty chorus shines over the beat's explosion of martial drums and sawtooth synths, an exercise in more is more than. —Ezra Marcus

100. Axwell /\ Ingrosso - "I Love You (feat. Child Ink)" (2017)

Sweden's leading purveyors of glucose-coated synthesizer lines add a petty bitterness to their sweet symphonies, ripping both the Verve and 808s-era Kanye. You don't desire to overdo this sort of treat, just it feels correct in the moment. —Colin Joyce

99. deadmau5 and Kaskade - "I Call up" (2008)

Social media antics bated, deadmau5 is responsible for some of the nearly magnetic electronic music ever made. Whether its audience is a massive festival crowd or a few loftier schoolers on a joyride, this immortal progressive business firm canticle wraps around its listeners and lifts them up like a tractor beam from a hovering UFO.— Ezra Marcus

98. SOPHIE - "Hard" (2014)

SOPHIE has subverted EDM's tropes on her other compositions, but few tracks smack as, well, hard as this alien ode to rubber, leather, PVC, and silicone. —Colin Joyce

97. David Guetta - "Titanium (feat. Sia)" (2011)

In the years after his initial The states chart success with the Akon-featuring "Sexy Bitch," David Guetta started to co-operative out into more than pop-friendly realms, before eventually arriving at "Titanium." Information technology's probably well-nigh notable as Sia's star-making plow in front of the microphone, with a steely chorus that makes this an EDM karaoke archetype. —David Turner

96. Wiwek and Alvaro - "Boomshakatak (feat. MC Spyder)" (2014)

Wiwek'southward occasionally atonal and typically off-kilter productions are deliberately terrifying—the hair-raising drop of "Boomshakatak" still provokes a fight-or-flight sensation every fourth dimension I hear it. —Colin Joyce

95. Aazar - "Rundat" (2014)

French producer Aazar scrapes all the high-pitched frivolity off a Dutch business firm riff with steel wool, unearthing a lean, skeletal pulse that stings like a diamond-tipped whip. One of the unsung gems of Mad Decent's deep catalogue.— Ezra Marcus

94. ATB and Dash Berlin - "Apollo Road" (2011)

My trance phase was cursory, but one of the songs that'south stuck with me is this 2011 squad-up between two genre titans. "Apollo Road" is a boring-burning joint, merely then worth wading through to go to that pensive, plinking piano section. Its bubbles build is a brief moment of hands-in the-air bliss, before the rail rips through your body with its hacksaw synths. If there was ever a song that made me wish I were a fluffies-wearing kandi kid, information technology's this ane.— Krystal Rodriguez

93. Alan Walker - "Faded" (2015)

Norwegian producer Alan Walker's breakout striking feels shockingly atypical amid the trap arms race, despite sharing a championship with one of 2014'southward biggest EDM hits and having the same chorus as another. While The Chainsmokers were riding waveform roller coasters, Walker chose to make something weightless. Drifting piano parts float effectually Fourth Earth synth percussion, resulting in what Enigma might throw together afterward a big huff of helium. —Colin Joyce

92. In a higher place & Beyond - "Can't Sleep" (2006)

British trio Higher up & Across's track "Can't Sleep" always floored me no thing where or when I heard it. Despite its speedy 133 BPM, celestial vocals and haunting keys brought the soaring rails down to globe. Listen closely to the pining lyrics and it reveals itself as a love song—a simple, human being sentiment at the cadre of its breakneck pace. Hit play and tell me you don't experience a shiver pitter-patter downwardly your spine. —David Garber

91. Dillon Francis - "Masta Blasta" (2011)

The seasick moombahton of Dillon Francis' "Masta Blasta" helped define the playful, absurdist aesthetic that Mad Decent pioneered in the early 2010s. The label's occasionally moved onto more pop-friendly realms in recent years, but this blast of chirping synths is a throwback to a time when you could recognize any Mad Decent vocal within the offset few seconds. —GRRL

90. Usher - "DJ Got United states Fallin' in Dearest (feat. Pitbull)" (2010)

Usher and Pitbull's self-aware, proto-EDM smash is a vocal about how a DJ playing other songs reminds Usher of an sometime romance. It is also about clubs and sexual practice and existence drunk, simply primarily it is a vocal about how each of us imbue music with vast amounts of personal significance. Which is something we've all idea almost on the dancefloor, right? As a genre predisposed to sweeping nostalgia, meta-EDM should accept been huge, but sadly Usher wasn't the pied piper he might have been. —Josh Baines

89. OMI - "Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix)" (2015)

Expect, you could spend your precious time arguing over what is and what isn't tropical house. Or y'all could plow this song up to 11 while driving to the beach on a sweltering summer's day, before cracking open some cold ones with the boys or girls. Life'due south too brusque, and you all read that New York magazine story most climate modify, right?— Max Mertens

88. DEV - "Bass Down Depression (feat. The Cataracs)" (2010)

Bay Area production duo the Cataracs brought their minimalist hyphy roots to affect this low-slung beat for Californian vocalist DEV, which served in 2010 as a slick transition between bloghouse and EDM aesthetics.— Ezra Marcus

87. Shawn Wasabi and YDG - "Burnt Rice" (2015)

A disembodied voice declares at the height, "Reality is lemons and the internet's my lemonade," which is fitting for the disorienting blend of styles at play here. The armada-fingered California producer draws through lines betwixt footwork, hardstyle, and trap, with the unpretentious approach of someone who grew up on the spider web, and has every sound inside reach. —Colin Joyce

86. Immature L - "Loud Pockets (Hudson Mohawke Remix)" (2011)

HudMo has so many era-defining anthems—like the wonky "Cbat" and Macbook ad-soundtracking "Chimes" —that it almost feels incorrect to skip them all in favor of a relatively unknown remix. Just this rare gem might exist his best work. The Scottish wunderkind turns Young 50's minimal mail-hyphy anthem inside out, stuffing it with a bright menagerie of crystal synth shards and hyperventilating handclaps. Go dumb to this at a sideshow on Venus. —Ezra Marcus

85. Lido - "Money" (2014)

Drawing on his past as a performing member of Norway's only gospel choir, Lido drags festival fare into a cathedral on this 2014 track, warping gold electronics into major central jubilance that wouldn't sound out of place on a one thousand chantry. Fittingly he'd later on finish upwards working with swain choirboy Chance the Rapper, but "Money" was his first attempt at making secular vices feel like sacred music. —Colin Joyce

84. Blue Foundation - "Eyes On Burn (Zeds Expressionless Remix)" (2009)

Before they were an EDM household name working with the likes of Pusha T and Weezer's Rivers Cuomo, Zeds Dead were just two guys from Toronto throwing one of the city's most frenzied weekly bass parties. The duo's stuttering dubstep bootleg of the Danish dream-popular group's slow-burner "Optics On Burn down" helped them graduate from basement plow-ups to festival main stages. Millions of plays afterwards, information technology's still every bit as capable of raising heart rates. —Max Mertens

83. Anna Lunoe - "B.D.D. (Bass Drum Dealer)" (2014)

Much similar obscenity, the idea of cool is kinda nebulous and undefinable, only you know it when you run across information technology. And frankly, I think Anna Lunoe's "B.D.D. (Bass Drum Dealer)" is one of the coolest songs ever made. There's no bamboozlement. No overly-dramatic drop. It's simply a really, really, really good song that offers exactly what information technology promises—an illicit dose of kick drum punishment. —GRRL

82. Cascada - "Everytime We Touch" (2005)

This proto-EDM classic prepared a generation of mid-00s tweens for the festival lifestyle past inciting a zillion grape juice-fueled Bar Mitzvah party rave-ups.— Ezra Marcus

81. Armin van Buuren - "Drowning (feat. Laura V) (Avicii Remix)" (2011)

Post-obit a string of buzzy originals and remixes for Daft Punk, Enrique Iglesias, Pitbull, and David Guetta, a ascent Avicii prepare his sights on another heavyweight: Armin van Buuren. Listening to it now is like re-watching the romcoms you loved as a teenager. It'due south sweet, cheesy, and has definitely aged poorly, simply information technology nonetheless leaves yous nostalgic for the days when everything seemed simpler.— Krystal Rodriguez

80. Clockwork - "Surge (feat. Wynter Gordon)" (2013)

You don't just casually listen to Clockwork'southward "Surge." Rather, in the words of vocalist Wynter Gordon, you "feel it all around y'all." She repeats the phrase over and over until it reaches semantic satiation—that's when you realize that maybe she's talking nearly something like the ascendant spirit of EDM itself. The uplifting electronics supplied by Clockwork (alter ego of RL Grime) help the song reach the total immersion it advertises.— Kitty

79. Destructo - "Higher" (2013)

HARD dominate Gary Richards' work as Destructo was often more reserved than the screechy hedonists the promoter booked to play his festivals, but his 2013 track "Higher" finds him totally off the leash. Wobbly beats build upward, stretching Babel-like to the EDM gods higher up, before tumbling into a sweaty electro maelstrom. Perhaps the only lyric was a reminder Richards left to himself, as he pushes the boundaries of his buttoned-up product style: "Become college, baby." —Colin Joyce

78. Brodinski and LOUISAHHH! - "Nobody Rules the Streets" (2012)

Before French producer Brodinski waded into the waters of Atlanta rap, he was making mutated electro from the radioactive runoff of Ed Banger and their bloghouse compatriots. Aided past gothy techno producer LOUISAHHH!, "Nobody Rules the Streets" is one of his almost hitting tracks. Crawling basslines and neck-snapping percussion cast shadows amidst glowing neon, like a tense moment from a Nicholas Winding Refn film. A police siren rings in the distance as the song ends, threatening more gloom to come. —Colin Joyce

77. Taio Cruz - "Dynamite" (2010)

Written in conjunction with Max Martin, Bonnie McKee, Dr. Luke, and Benny Blanco, Cruz's 2010 nail hitting was the just credible UK have on the whole EDM affair, which, generally speaking, we never gelatinous with. Like well-nigh Anglicised versions of American ideas, "Dynamite" is a little tacky, brash, and misguided. It is as well fucking brilliant—a rushing, fizzy hitting of pure pop excitement, the kind of nursery rhyme-elementary song that sticks in your head for years. Information technology might be the only thing history remembers virtually Taio Cruz, but hey, that'due south fine. —Josh Baines

76. The Chainsmokers - "Don't Let Me Down (feat. Daya)" (2016)

It's been overshadowed by the confessional "Closer" and the 80s bombast of their 2017 debut Memories…Do Not Open, but the 'Smokers about dynamic single was actually their smash "Don't Permit Me Down." With an assistance from the young vocalist Daya, this song played a pivotal role in shifting the audio of the mainstream towards the exciting concoction of trap-lite drums, trampoline synths, and singalong melodies that however dominates terrestrial radio.— Ezra Marcus

75. Avicii - "Silhouettes" (2012)

In the wake of the unexpected smash that "Levels" became, the line in "Silhouettes" nigh having "the browbeaten path before us" seems to indicate that Avicii's non very intent on replicating his stadium-sized hit. Instead, the song's low-cardinal, bleary-eyed synth piece of work was an early on design for his afterward attempts at crossover, AOR self-aid pop. It's the sort of chintzy stuff that you want to decline, but will bring yous to tears in the dorsum of an Uber at the finish of a reckless Thursday dark. —Colin Joyce

74. Knife Political party - "Cyberspace Friends" (2011)

Nil sums upward early-2010s 9GAG-core sense of humor meliorate than the phrase "you blocked me on Facebook, and now you're going to DIE." Epic bacon dubstep civilisation at its shameless apex.— Ezra Marcus

73. Zedd - "Clarity" (2012)

I've heard that when you die, the last thing you hear is a choir of angels exalting your ascent to the heavens with the joyous refrain and divine synth lines of "Clarity" by Zedd.— Kitty

72. Major Lazer - "B2GETHER (Mija Remix) (feat. Wild Belle)" (2015)

The original is a bit deadening and soggy, simply Mija lets the gorgeous vocal melody breathe by ramping up the BPM and coating the product in the confectionary glaze that'south get her calling card.— Ezra Marcus

71. Keys North Krates - "Dum Dee Dum" (2013)

Few songs encapsulate the boneheaded glory of frat-trap meliorate than this. With petty more than than a song loop and rowdy 808s, this sounds but as massive booming from speaker stacks at a festival as from a Beats Pill at a dorm-room pregame.— Ezra Marcus

70. Saint and UNIIQU3 - "Yo (I'yard Lit)" (2015)

Because of their skill at fusing bassline bombs with boundless sample work, Jersey order producers similar Nadus, DJ Sliink, and UNIIQU3 accept found favor amid EDM'due south A-listers in recent years. Tracks similar "Yo (I'chiliad Lit)" show why that alliance makes so much sense. Saint and UNIIQU3's transformation of a vocal take into a chattery percussive office and M-80-similar kick-drums make this i feel like it could level a stadium. Information technology'south social club music as LRAD.— Colin Joyce

69. CETANA and moistbreezy - "Running" (2016)

Like its title suggests, this Dim Mak unmarried's an exercise in speedy locomotion. Whirling arpeggios ready information technology into frantic motion, careening towards a precipice. And so, they speed right off the border, Wile E. Coyote-like, unaware of the breadbasket-churning drib below. —Colin Joyce

68. Ellie Goulding - "Lights" (2011)

No drops to be plant hither—for that yous'll have to peep the Bassnectar remix—only luminescent synth lines and metal house beats past producer squad Biffco helped this ane scream from festival stages far and wide. Sometime after its release, Goulding featured heavily on some proper EDM bangers, only "Lights" remains her greatest flirtation with the dancefloor. It offers the sort of arms-raised, breath-of-fresh-air moment needed betwixt all the chaos. —Colin Joyce

67. Unicorn Kid - "Demand U" (2012)

The assumption that drove Scottish producer Unicorn Kid on his euphoric rail "Need U" was that peradventure trance wasn't quite outlandish enough. The track offered a funhouse mirror version of the sound, along with a goofy anime-inspired video, which combined to puncture some of the hands-in-the-air cocky-seriousness that often attends trance culture. Plenty of songs piece of work with the same loftier-free energy ideas, but Unicorn Child figured out a manner to make them lighthearted. —David Turner

66. Flosstradamus - "Rollup (Baauer Remix)" (2012)

When I was in higher, I spent a lot of fourth dimension in my vanquish-upwardly Chevy Cavalier. Somehow I managed to destroy its stereo piece by piece until the only thing that worked was the CD histrion, so I'd burn down carefully curated mixes that stayed in rotation until the machine'due south inevitable death (natural causes). This rim-rattling remix was on perchance…75% of those CDs. My friends nevertheless joke almost how the but matter they call up of when they hear it is how shitty my car was. But this song is a fucking banger and my motorcar was awesome and I'm especially honored that the memory of its wrecked stereo lives on in a perfectly placed coughing.— Kitty

65. Bassnectar - "Magical World (feat. Nelly Furtado)" (2010)

I may forget to mention my historical connexion to the long-haired wobble lord known as Bassnectar if you were to chat me up during a rooftop smoke break at a seedy techno rave. But my early experiences banging my 3D glasses-adorned head at hippie-palooza bass festivals like Military camp Bisco were pivotal to discovering my path, profession, and all effectually life outlook.

My first dubstep dearest was the creative person also known as Lorin Ashton, and his at present canonical anthems including the Nelly Furtado-featuring "Magical World." That roiling bass practice instantly teleports me back to those smelly seas of dreadlocks, totems, and patchouli oil. It hasn't fifty-fifty been a decade since this song dropped, but i of its summit YouTube comments sums upwards my feelings succinctly: "The fucking Nostalgia is too much for me." —David Garber

64. Lorde - "Lawn tennis Court (Diplo's Andre Agassi Reebok Pump Remix)" (2014)

This Lorde flip shows Diplo beta-testing the at present-standard tactic of transforming a popular star's melodies into a synthetic dolphin squeal, which he'd use again to world-beating outcome on "Where Are Ü At present" the following year.— Ezra Marcus

63. Dimitri Vegas, Martin Garrix, and Like Mike - "Tremor" (2014)

Here, three big-room residents evidence their chops not only equally producers, but as mathematicians. Plugged into the 4/four beat, a unmarried repeating melody becomes trance-like. Elements drop in and out with perfect precision, the drops dividing and multiplying every bit the rails continues. It's the EDM formula perfected—a masterclass in amusement park physics and centrifugal forcefulness. —GRRL

62. Hardwell - "Spaceman (Carnage Remix)" (2012)

This remix of Hardwell'south "Spaceman" is a prime case of Carnage doing what he does best—bringing interstellar synths crashing dorsum to earth in a crumpled heap. There isn't a lot else to it. It'due south merely stupid hype. —GRRL

61. Nero - "Promises (Skrillex & Nero Remix)" (2011)

At the superlative of America's dubstep craze arrived a collaboration between ii of the genre'southward biggest stars: UK'southward Nero, and homegrown ascension star Skrillex. Together, they remixed "Promises," a track off the erstwhile's 2011 debut album Welcome Reality. With the latter'due south touch, the already bass-heavy runway becomes a cluttered frenzy of chopped vocals and jagged synths, the musical equivalent of adding a shot of espresso to a Red Bull.— Krystal Rodriguez

threescore. Peking Duk - "High (feat. Nicole Millar)" (2014)

If whatever of chillwave's tape deck jugglers allowed themselves the total-on comedown nostalgia rush their fuzzy music often hinted at, it might sound something like the four minutes of gasping synth parts and wailing sampled vocals that brand up the Australian duo's "Loftier." In that location'south some blunt lyrics nigh all the means honey is similar a drug, for practiced measure. How novel! If you recall y'all've heard this i earlier, you take, and it'southward very expert.— Colin Joyce

59. NGHTMRE and Loudpvck - "Click Clack" (2016)

Have you seen what a hydraulic printing can do to a prepare of speakers? This is like that, just with sub-bass bursts, hardcore kicks, and synths that could've easily ended upward on a harsh racket track. You'll want to go out of the way. —Colin Joyce

58. TOKiMONSTA - "Mileena'due south Theme" (2011)

The scuzziest drops have ever owed a lot to video game soundtracks, but this vocal brought it full circumvolve for TOKiMONSTA. Composed for a companion album to the 2011 installment of the legendarily fierce fighting game Mortal Kombat , this 1'south an ominous creeper equanimous of gory synths and foreboding drum piece of work. It's a plumbing fixtures tribute to the titular Mileena, a sai-wielding assassin who occasionally uses her sharp fangs to sever the heads of her enemies.— Colin Joyce

57. Calvin Harris - "Let'due south Go (feat. Ne-Yo)" (2012)

Yeah, yeah, I know, nosotros all at present like Calvin Harris just as much as we like Mood Hut 12"s and new historic period cassettes and deconstructed guild music and Migos, simply honestly this one is up there with the best matter's the Scot always did. Best known for existence in a Pepsi advertising, "Let's Go" pulls off the trickiest of feats—information technology really sounds similar gulping down a few gallons of fizzy pop. That is to say, it's all head-rush and eventual dissatisfaction, simply for a few minutes, it sounds like consummate heaven. Ne-Yo—who was always improve suited to upbeat EDM-infused R&B than IKEA-friendly slow jams—really gives it both barrels, and honestly, no vocal of the era makes me want to appear in a commercial for an evil product quite so much. —Josh Baines

56. Justin Bieber - "Beauty and a Beat (feat. Nicki Minaj)" (2012)

Manufacture trainspotter types may well exist aware that this Justin Bieber song was originally written for Zedd's 2012 debut Clarity, but information technology's for the all-time that it didn't end up in that location. Championship track aside, nothing on Clarity ever gets as empty-headed as this: it's stuffed with glitzy runway drops, hereafter funk basslines, and Nicki Minaj rhyming "Selena" with "weiner." Information technology's not the festival destroyer information technology might have been as a stand-alone Zedd track, merely information technology does offering the promise of partying "like information technology'south 3012," which is arguably more heady anyway. —Colin Joyce

55. Hundred Waters - "Show Me Love (Skrillex Remix) (feat. Run a risk The Rapper, Moses Sumney and Robin Hannibal)" (2016)

Every bit the lone indie stone act signed to OWSLA, Hundred Waters take had some unique opportunities for a band of their stature—like last year's remix of their shapeshifting single "Show Me Love" past the characterization boss himself. In his hands, the weightless original becomes the foundation for some bright crooning from songwriter Moses Sumney, and a poetry from Adventure the Rapper hits like a concentrated dose of vitamin D. The distant boom of some deadening-motion kick action is the lone deject on this sunbeam—might as well bask in the warmth while its even so nice out. —Colin Joyce

54. Ducky - "Work" (2016)

Los Angeles producer Ducky offered the antithesis of EDM'due south escapist fantasia on her 2016 single "Work." It'south a techno-indebted jacker, juiced up with a stuttered vocal about being busy likewise to do anything just go along your olfactory organ pressed to the belt sander of commercialism. There's no gleaming peaks or shuddering low-end exercises to take you out of the moment—just factory-similar efficiency and precise engineering from one of America's best young producers. —Colin Joyce

53. La Roux - "In For The Kill (Skrillex Remix)" (2010)

La Roux'due south 2009 breakout single "In For The Kill" received remixes from both Kanye West and dubstep originator Skream, but for sheer oomphs-per-minute, it's hard to trounce Skrillex'due south jackknifed rework. Released a few weeks before from his epoch-defining "Scary Monsters And Sprites," the producer adds staticky bass and a claret-curdling shriek, simply Elly Jackson's icy vocals cut through the layers of digital noise with striking clarity.— Max Mertens

52. Wolfgang Gartner - "Illmerica" (2010)

A incoherent electro smash, combining EDC mainstage energy with nimble gear-change drops that call back the punk energy of the Ed Banger years. The audio of a furry neon raver kicking stomping on your face up, forever.— Ezra Marcus

51. Flume - "Never Be Like You (feat. Kai)" (2016)

Every major electronic trope from the last 3 years—bruised hip-hop drums, trance-inspired female vocals, the and so-called "Flume driblet,"—gets thrown in a blender, and somehow emerges non as a soggy mess merely every bit a puff pastry of frothy pop maximalism.— Ezra Marcus

fifty. Carnage - "Bricks (feat. Migos)" (2014)

Pushing buzzing rap trends to their logical determination is one of Carnage's greatest strengths. Dorsum in 2014, the boisterous EDM producer tapped Migos for bouncy trap banger "Bricks," helping elevate the Atlanta trio just equally they were stepping out of the shadow Drake cast over them past hopping onto their breakout hit, "Versace."

On "Bricks," Migos debuted an even more adlib-heavy and distorted way than ever before, presaging the sound that would take them to number-i with "Bad and Boujee." Though Carnage would go on to be an early on collaborator with Famous Dex, Lil Yachty, Rich The Kid, and Ugly God, it was "Bricks" that demonstrated how EDM and rap could fully embrace one other.— David Turner

49. QT - "Hey QT" (2014)

It's unfortunate that the words "PC Music" make some blench. Whether or not you think they created an best great gimmick by giving off the advent they were manufacturing uncanny-valley popular stars in a lab, the prankish collective wielded astonishing popular songs beneath the smokescreen of hype. Never was this more credible than on QT'south one-off unmarried "Hey QT," which co-masterminds SOPHIE and A.G. Cook tried to pass off as an energy drink singing to an audience. (They even fabricated a express amount of promotional beverages.) Skin back all those layers and yous've got a Carly Rae Jepsen-league shot of syrup that will be stuck in your head (and teeth) for months. —Dan Weiss

48. Swedish House Mafia - "Don't You Worry Child (feat. John Martin)" (2012)

The Scandinavian trio'due south modest key farewell was as well their finest moment. The teary-eyed moving ridge farewell leaned heavily on prog-house'southward chapters for outsized emotion, to build toward a series of drops that felt similar an entire arena suddenly erupting into sobs. Its championship was a subtle alleviation to fans, as if they were saying, "We don't know what comes adjacent, only for at present, at to the lowest degree we all have this song."— Colin Joyce

47. Eric Prydz - "Opus (4 Tet Remix)" (2015)

"Subtle" isn't an adjective often used to describe the maximal music of Swedish superstar Eric Prydz. Yet 4 Tet's unlikely nine-minute remix of "Opus"—which spawned out of unproblematic tweet by the British producer—manages to mellow out the crowd-pleaser, while serving every bit a lesson in how to build tension. If they always make a We Are Your Friends sequel, because how much Zac Efron's character loves a sick drop, they should utilize this remix in the trailer— Max Mertens

46. Rusko - "Woo Boost" (2010)

I never had more fun in college than when my friends and I would plug an iPod into a bass amp in a dorm and blast Rusko tunes until security came. On "Woo Boost," as always, the British wobble pioneer gives his drops an impish personality, their melodies surfing over bottomless troughs of bass with a wink and a heart finger.— Ezra Marcus

45. Skrillex - "Breathe (Krewella Vocal Edit)" (2011)

It'southward easy to capeesh Skrillex's recent forays into pop production and restrained "future bass," but I'll always cherish the era of 2010-2012 when his audition seemed to consist of Minecraft YouTubers and angry BMX teens. Peak Skrill had so much shamelessness, purity, and soul—he was like ZZ Top except channeling the unhinged id of the internet'due south underbelly instead of a Texas dive bar. Case in indicate: this Krewella collaboration. Sonny's firing on all cylinders, with his trademark julienned vocal melodies and a snarling drib that moves like a wingsuit stunt flyer cheating death in a coulee. Revisiting this stuff after the last few years of tasteful, adult gimmicky EDM-lite dominating the popular charts feels like sinking your teeth into an artery-bottleneck sirloin afterward as well many kale smoothies. —Ezra Marcus

44. ZHU - "Faded" (2014)

A fittingly mysterious offering from a producer who began his career intentionally bearding, "Faded" is EDM refracted through the grayscale lens of French New Wave, two-pace, and James Bond themes. It'south muted, compared to much of what's on this list—more than suited to an early morning sunrise than a peak-hours fireworks display, which but adds to its surreal bliss. —Colin Joyce

43. Kaskade - "4 AM (Adam Chiliad and Soha Mix)" (2008)

Electronic music with indie cred at the cease of the 00s was typically brash and loud (remember Major Lazer and Justice) or subtle and downcast (Matthew Dearest, Burial, Four Tet). Merely information technology was not, mostly, uplifting and emotional. These attributes were mostly derided past the era's early adopters, until Araabmuzik re-introduced a generation of aloof college kids to the center-opening pleasures of trance on his 2011 album Electronic Dream. 1 song he sampled almost wholesale on "Streetz Tonight" is this classic from 2008. The original still reigns supreme—a neon wormhole in the heaven, sucking you up, upward, and abroad.— Ezra Marcus

42. Mat Zo and Porter Robinson - "Easy" (2013)

British producer Mat Zo excels at a very particular flavour of uplifting, seamless prog-firm, beloved by the kind of hardbody gym rats who carefully catalog every meal they consume. Porter Robinson injects a footling soul into the high-definition gloss, courtesy of a heavily manipulated vocal melody with a bittersweet edge. This is "One More Fourth dimension" for the Beatport ready. —Ezra Marcus

41. Baauer - "GoGo!" (2015)

It'southward unfortunate that Harry Bauer Rodrigues' legacy in wider public consciousness is tied to a fluke meme, considering he's long been one of the best producers excavating the crumbling foundations beneath trap and bass music. "GoGo!" is one of his most destructive efforts—the bassline crawls along at a bulldozer'due south pace, tearing up whatever's in its path. Bursts of chopped-upward vocals jump like flowers from the wreckage, a testament to the joys of ripping information technology all upward and starting again. —Colin Joyce

forty. Duck Sauce - "Barbra Streisand" (2010)

While the video for A-Trak and Armand van Helden'due south "Barbra Streisand" features a who'southward who of music world cameos—including Kanye, Pharrell, Diplo, Chromeo, and the Roots' Questlove—it never overshadows how outrageously catchy this 2010 disco-house anthem is.

All together now: WOOO, WOOO, WOOO-OH. WOOO, WOOO, WOOO-OH. WOOO, WOOO, WOOO-OH. WOOO, WOOO, WOOO-OH. WOOO, WOOO, WOOO-OH. WOOO, WOOO, WOOO-OH. WOOO, WOOO, WOOO-OH. WOOO, WOOO, WOOO-OH. WOOO, WOOO, WOOO-OH. —Max Mertens

39. Waka Flocka Flame - "Hard in Da Paint (Bellizio Remix) (Crizzly Edit)" (2011)

More than than half a decade afterward this foundation-shaking edit of an edit beginning rumbled onto SoundCloud, it nonetheless follows me around. This thing can show upwards anywhere: a low-key house political party, quasi-ironically during a set up by an otherwise cerebral IDM-ish DJ, the Indy 500 or, of grade, at pinnacle time during an EDC ready. This remix—like many on this listing—uses drops as super weapons, which makes its inescapability all the more unsettling. Have you ever been stalked past an atomic flop? —Colin Joyce

38. RL Grime and What And then Not - "Tell Me" (2014)

Two of trap's steeliest stuntmen ended up on a collision course in 2014 for this unexpectedly sensitive assemblage of speed demon spinouts and loftier free energy leaps. It'd get a glossier, Skrillex-assisted sequel a few years later with "Waiting," just like the best activeness movies, "Tell Me" balances feats of strength with emotional moments. It's an anthem for those who like the sad parts in The Fast and the Furious series. —Colin Joyce

37. Flosstradamus and DJ Sliink - "Oversupply CTRL" (2013)

Flosstradamus weren't patient nada for the trap virus that spread across the mega-fests in the early on 10s, but they did seem to understand its dynamics improve than merely nigh anyone else. This collaboration with New Bailiwick of jersey's DJ Sliink could function equally a tutorial for all the different tricks that other producers working in the field would come to employ. They spring dizzily between a diverseness of air-raid synth sounds, eardrum-busting bass drops, and martial percussion. Listen closely, you might learn something. —Colin Joyce

36. Carnage - "I Like Tuh (feat. iLoveMakonnen)" (2015)

There'south a reason this song plays in the trailer for the underrated 2016 Shia LaBeouf vehicle American Honey [total disclosure: American Honey was produced by VICE's Pulse Films] , which is basically three hours of teens running wild, hooking up, and occasionally selling magazines on a trip through the country's hinterlands. Carnage and Makonnen's large-hearted candy-trap ode to drug-dealing as escapism makes the American dream feel (about) real. —Ezra Marcus

35. TroyBoi - "Afterhours (feat. Diplo & Nina Sky)" (2015)

There's a reason this song is in pretty much every single Apple tree Music "Trap" playlist, and that'south the Diplo feature. Only there's more than to the song than an A-list aid. There'south besides a masterfully executed Boingy Drop and the druggy magic of its lyrics. Some stroke of genius inspired a perfect coalescence of molly thoughts ("I just wanna dance among the stars") and thotty tweets ("These afterhours got me charged")—the combination of which gives me FOMO for parties that don't fifty-fifty exist.— Kitty

34. Mija and Vindata - "Better" (2016)

Two OWSLA standouts pull from happy hardcore, Due east Coast social club music, and anime soundtracks for this 3-minute dopamine injection. Mija's "fk a genre" productions have become particularly adept at evoking euphoria over the concluding couple of years, and this is one of her happiest efforts. Crevice a grin, you deserve it. —Colin Joyce

33. Farrah Abraham - "The Telephone Call that Changed My Life" (2012)

5 years ago, Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham released My Teenage Dream Ended—an outsider art cannonball virtually heartbreak and pregnancy that is probably one of the nearly challenging records of our time. The album opens with "The Phone Call That Inverse My Life," which uses off-key Automobile-Tune and dubstep drops non to induce pleasure, but to capture the body horror and anxiety she experienced when she constitute out she was carrying. Her inversion of typically upbeat sonic tropes captures the nightmares lurking beneath the surface of everyday American life.— Ezra Marcus

32. Diplo - "Express Yourself (feat. Nicky Da B)" (2012)

Despite the icky purposes it's been used for, Nicky Da B and Diplo's 2012 anthem remains a radical ode to challenge space past moving your body around in information technology. The instrumental all but forces y'all to dance; jackhammering synth lines and a mechanical clap continue fourth dimension as the late, great New Orleans rapper Nicky coaches you how to "spread your legs, at present watch your dorsum, get upwardly and downwards, and make information technology clap." —Colin Joyce

31. DJ Snake and Lil Jon - "Turn Downwards For What" (2013)

Music is often (if not always) a product, so it stands to reason that i of the most enduring singles of the EDM era—a menstruum of mainstream consumer interest in electronic music—sounds like a goddamn Mountain Dew commercial. Or a Projection Runway advertising. Y'all know that a song'southward reached mass-cultural status when Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum are trying to "sing" along to a chorus that Lil Jon basically screams with all the subtlety of Gilded Joe.

In other words, for a brief moment, it truly felt like "Turn Down for What" was everywhere, with DJ Snake'south squealing-synth drop and Megalodon-sized drums barreling through every level of popular consciousness. I wish information technology never left. —Larry Fitzmaurice

xxx. Krewella - "Bask the Ride" (2013)

Before the departure of founding member Kris Trindl led them to reinvent themselves as a two-piece, Krewella were masters of the sort of synth-pop-with-a-drop that every major label A&R was subsequently for a minute. "Enjoy the Ride" wasn't their well-nigh successful unmarried on the charts, but information technology is their best—soaring on current of air-tunnel trance synths, with choruses that seem to be bellowed in zilch-chiliad. Information technology'south less direct than 2013'southward "Alive," but as the title suggests, the scenic route tin be rewarding, also.— Colin Joyce

29. Dada Life - "Kickout the Epic Motherfucker" (2012)

These bald Swedish twins make gonzo electro-house for people who love FailArmy nut-shot compilations and article of clothing horse-caput masks to festivals. Their near famous vocal is dumb every bit rocks and fun as hell—a heaping spoonful of twice-distilled, extra virgin, 2012-vintage Awesome Sauce. —Ezra Marcus

28. David Guetta - "Without Yous (feat. Usher)" (2011)

Writers spilled gallons of ink on PBR&B in the early 10s, but scarcely whatever on the far more than prevalent trend of EDM&B. For several years, Euro superstars like Guetta recruited American singers like Usher, Kelly Rowland, and Akon for pounding anthems that stayed on rotation at mega-clubs from Shanghai to San Diego.

At the fourth dimension, a lot these songs blended together, but in retrospect a few gems have emerged. This shameless slice of cheese might be the all-time of the bunch, equally strong an expression of desire as you're probable to always hear blaring at a corporate team-building retreat. In an interview with MTV News about the collaboration, Usher summed up the guileless positivity of the EDM&B moment: "When yous come across R&B and pop and house, likewise every bit electronic, come together, that's the reality of what music is."— Ezra Marcus

27. Major Lazer and DJ Serpent - "Lean On (feat. MØ)" (2015)

Diplo has spent his adult life traveling the globe, infiltrating musical hotspots, and partying and influencer-ing—all in pursuit of some kind of Lost Ark of bangers. DJ Snake—no slouch himself—helps him climb Everest here. "Lean On" is the perfect summer jam, with slip & slide voices cut up betwixt spiked-juice verses and pool-grotto harmonies. Legend has it that no one's ever lived to tell the tale sober. —Dan Weiss

26. The Chainsmokers - "Closer (feat. Halsey)" (2016)

The Chainsmokers' number-one hitting with Halsey is probably purest representation of EDM's dull injection into pop'south bloodstream (and vice versa). Like a lot of Top 40 songs over the past half-decade, it hinges on compressed synth hits, soaring topline vocals, and the cyclical movements of EDM. But The Chainsmokers' whole schtick is taking that formula and using it as a canvas for vaseline-smeared visions of a one-half-remembered past. Smoothed-down edges and fogged-upwards lyrics lubricate their songs' glide into universal relatability. "Closer" doubles down on this gambit, shoehorning pointillist details of longing into a romantic Mad Libs narrative that y'all can't help writing yourself into.— Colin Joyce

25. Dillon Francis and Diplo - "Que Que (feat. Maluca)" (2011)

Moombahton was robbed. The brusque-lived genre fell victim to a glut of copycats and a cringeworthy name, merely for a shining moment, it gave EDM's bombast a rhythmic power-up. With an assist from the singer Maluca, Francis and Diplo manage to make squeaky Dutch synths sound legitimately sultry. This might be the genre'due south greatest moment.— Ezra Marcus

24. Rustie - "First Mythz" (2015)

The Scottish producer folds up the history of maximalist electronic music—trance, prog house, EDM, and…OK, by and large trance—into a complex, dolphin-shaped origami. By that, I mean he samples a dolphin. information technology rules. —Colin Joyce

23. Afrojack - "Accept Over Control (feat. Eva Simons)" (2010)

Almost of the time when Dutch prog-house crosses over information technology tends to exist pretty formulaic. But Afrojack's track hit number-i on Billboard's Dance Charts for six weeks in a row and peaked at 41 on the Hot 100, despite bearing some of the nearly seasick product the genre's seen. The producer programs his synthesizers and unpredictable drops in boomeranging loops, as Eva Simons offers a circular, giddy vocal over top. It'southward adventurous enough that information technology'll have you lot dry-heaving over the side of Holy Ship!—merely like, in a good way.— Colin Joyce

22. Lil Jon - "Outta Your Mind (feat. LMFAO)" (2010)

Redfoo and Heaven Blu accept more popular songs than "Outta Your Mind," but none of their hits touch the brick-through-a-window immediacy of what happened when Lil Jon tapped them for a track for his 2010 album, Crunk Stone. It forfeits the group's usual goofy Señor Frogs energy to reveal something harder and darker, each trainwreck drop demonstrating a Dionysian conventionalities in partying as an act of total war. The title isn't but a nifty phrase—it's a code to live by.— Ezra Marcus

21. Kid Cudi - "Pursuit Of Happiness (Steve Aoki Remix)" (2009)

Instead of writing 400 words on why Aoki's flip of the rapper's Ratatat-produced, MGMT-assisted 2010 feel-good anthem is one of the brightest jewels in the Dim Mak founder's extensive discography, I'd like to direct your attention to this video of him performing at Mysteryland 2013. Later on playing the eponymous "Aoki Jump," he segues into the remix, conducting the crowd singalong from his elevated perch similar a Pied Piper of EDM. From there, cake is thrown, champagne is sprayed, and a body of water of glow sticks are waved in a synchronized dance. It's 6 minutes and 13 seconds of unfettered audience joy, and if it doesn't put a smile on your dumb face, then I can't help y'all. —Max Mertens

20. Sleepy Tom and Anna Lunoe - "Pusher" (2015)

"Pusher," the 2015 unmarried from producers Sleepy Tom and Anna Lunoe, is notable purely on the merits of introducing two impressive talents to the EDM sphere. Sleepy Tom has since gone on to deliver the satisfying smash Diplo collab "Exist Right There." Lunoe, meanwhile, has emerged over the by 2 years as one of the most stellar DJs and producers in the large-tent scene full-finish, equally evidenced by her exhilarating remix of Flume and Tove Lo'south "Say It" to the monstrous summer jam "Godzilla."

With Lunoe's perfectly pitched vocals and the vocal's truly wild driblet, though, "Pusher" delivers on its own merits, striking a middle basis betwixt party-hardy hedonism and zonked-out contemplation. Near moments in EDM are ephemeral, merely nosotros'll be listening to "Pusher" for years.— Larry Fitzmaurice

19. The Bloody Beetroots - "Warp 1.nine (feat. Steve Aoki)" (2009)

The turn of the 2010s represented a pinnacle both for EDM as a commercial phenomenon and for the more aggro-leaning side of Steve Aoki'due south Dim Mak label. "Warp i.nine," mayhap the definitive track from that particularly fruitful menstruation of hook-laden abrasiveness, saw Aoki teaming with the masked Italians the Bloody Beetroots. Compared with standard EDM excess, the Beetroots offered something a little more grayscale, a niggling more than raw and gothic. When paired with Aoki's grinning free energy, the rails stands out like a dose of digital acid within a bounding main of sweetness.— GRRL

18. Madeon - "Finale" (2012)

Information technology was only a matter of time earlier an FL Studio whiz finally stumbled upon the neon-lit, heavy-lidded spirit of Phil Collins' solo work. And like a lost cutting from that artist'southward 1985 studio anthology, No Jacket Required, "Finale" is gleaming, high-drama pop at its finest. Madeon'south prismatic synth runs and punch-tone arpeggios only add farther color to the super-saturated rail. The outcome is so bright that y'all tin't look away, fifty-fifty if you wanted to.— Colin Joyce

17. Calvin Harris and Rihanna - "We Plant Love" (2011)

It's nigh incommunicable to pin downwardly Rihanna's most iconic tune. Is it "Umbrella," the big-tent ballad that hung its behemothic chorus over Pro Tools drums? "Work," the Drake duet that swirled over 2016 like hookah fume? Or is her nearly indelible anthem this undeniable Calvin Harris collaboration? Anyone who'south adopted a cat to cope with the Trumpocalypse will surely identify with the idea of finding love in a hopeless place. That's why "We Found Dear" transcends EDM. It's not willing the listener to escape; it'southward asking them to await for the calm inside the eye of the storm. —Dan Weiss

sixteen. REZZ - "Edge" (2016)

REZZ rose to prominence through a deadmau5 co-sign, but her music's a little more than grim than you lot'd expect. "Edge," her biggest hitting, crawls along at an industrial stride, more than Wax Trax! than mau5trap. Its monotonic synth parts and nauseating bass drones render information technology bleaker than nigh anything else in the EDM orbit, and that'south the dazzler of it. At the fourth dimension, she warned listeners to "be careful non to become sucked into the completeness plz." Merely that's a shame, because it's a pretty tempting void. —Colin Joyce

15. Porter Robinson and Madeon - "Shelter (Slushii Remix)" (2017)

When we profiled the young Jersey-born producer Slushii, he told us his goal was to make the about "feelsy" music possible. What that means on this remix of Porter Robinson and Madeon'south "Shelter"—the original of which already has poignancy to spare—is a Skrillex-indebted combination of pitch-shifted vocals, sparkling synthetic texture, and hyper-kinetic drops. Slushii loves kawaii culture (his logo is an ambrosial anthropomorphic soft drink modeled on a Yu-Gi-Oh bill of fare), and here, his production overflows with the cartoonish physics and exaggerated sentimentality of anime. —Ezra Marcus

14. deadmau5 - "Enhance Your Weapon" (2011)

Deadmau5's "Raise Your Weapon" stands out amidst its uplifting, party-hearty EDM ilk equally an emo anthem. "Rippin' my heart was so piece of cake, so easy," begins vocaliser Greta Svabo Bech over brooding piano chords. A three-human activity track, information technology morphs into the Canadian producer'south signature prog-business firm sound, then builds to a devastating dubstep conclusion wrought with co-writer Skrillex's malfunctioning-machine influence. Despite its downer lyrics, the single became a festival favorite, earning a 2012 Grammy nomination and LED-heavy performance at the anniversary .—Krystal Rodriguez

xiii. Nero - "Dark Skies" (2015)

Lots of EDM acts are loud and fun, only few are also every bit dark, romantic, and stylish as Nero. Like the band's best work, "Dark Skies" spares none of the bass action, but comes off more similar the soundtrack to a Japanese neo-noir than a sloppy festival tent. —Ezra Marcus

Edifice on the early on 2000s Southern hip-hop blueprint established by producers like Polow da Don and Lex Luger, the bass-heavy, glass-shattering instrumentals on TNGHT'south self-titled EP bridged the gap betwixt stadium EDM and rap. There are weirder songs on Hudson Mohawke and Lunice'southward articulation opus (note the babe coos on "Buggin'"), merely none of them hit harder than "Higher Ground," with its febrile vocal sample, thunderous handclaps, and synthesized tuba blasts. Five years later on, the residual of the music earth is still catching upwardly. —Max Mertens

11. Kanye West - "Mercy (RL Grime & Salva Remix)" (2012)

An eerily Biblical dancehall sample? Big Sean making cringeworthy ass-related puns? two Chainz rapping circles effectually everybody? When it first saw release as part of the G.O.O.D. Fridays serial, "Mercy" was pretty much everything y'all'd ever want from a Kanye posse cut. But in the hands of WEDIDIT linchpin RL Crud and fellow Los Angeles beatmaker Salva, it transformed into something harder, faster, stronger, and arguably, better. If this remix didn't exist, HARD Summer would demand to find a mode to invent it.— Max Mertens

10. Cashmere True cat - "Mirror Maru" (2012)

With his early output, Magnus August Høiberg tried cultivating a more introverted strain of EDM. "When I was making that music, I was thinking more of a girl or a male child alone in their bedroom listening to it, than a crowd full of people going insane," he told THUMP earlier this year.

The Norwegian producer'south 2012 single "Mirror Maru" is 1 of his almost successfully pillowy works from that era. Trance-y keys circle effectually plumage-low-cal synth parts, hopscotching kickdrums, and—in a nod to his Jersey club influences—the playful squeak of a bedframe. There'due south no drop, no high-gain synths—but a bed of rippling riffs for yous to sink into. No wonder the song ended upward on a video game soundtrack—it's the perfect music for endmost the windows and letting the shades downward on a bright summer day. —Colin Joyce

9. Major Lazer - "Pon De Floor (feat. Vybz Kartel)" (2009)

The best moments on Diplo and Switch'south 2009 LP as Major Lazer offered a warped accept on dancehall, ane that transcended pastiche and potential cries of cultural co-selection to create a audio so conflicting and distinctive it set up its own trends. Nowhere is that skill more apparent than on "Pon De Floor," a Caribbean-inspired scorcher co-produced past DJ Magazine'southward favorite Dutchman Afrojack, with brazen come-ons courtesy of veteran Jamaican MC Vybz Kartel.

The synths whirr similar v-alert burn down sirens, just the unmarried's marching-band drums are the real bear witness-stopper, capable of making fifty-fifty the shyest of fans engage in some reckless living room daggering. Two years after its release, the vocal would become the courage of Beyoncé's chart-topping empowerment anthem "Run the World (Girls)," cementing its place in the pantheon of EDM-pop crossover classics.— Max Mertens

8. Marshmello - "Alone" (2016)

It is a miracle how full this song most emptiness manages to be, its digitized vocals serving as a chirping apotheosis of 21st century isolation. At that place's also the fact that the producer doesn't project a human image—bucket caput bated, Marshmello wears all white and communicates to the world not in interviews, but through Instagram captions. And yet this song feels and so warm, similar a Nintendo 64 melting over a campfire. Singing along, we tin can all exist lone, together.— David Turner

7. Porter Robinson - "Sorry Motorcar" (2014)

The title of this postal service-apocalyptic duet between Robinson and a piece of vocaloid software—the aforementioned tech that makes Hatsune Miku happen—is pretty literal. Both singers sound like androids, drifting in slow-motility inside an uncaring cosmos and yearning for something akin to human contact. The beat's appropriately weightless, a collage of digitalist synth work swelling inside vast open up spaces. It shows part of what makes Robinson so nifty: he can anthropomorphize machines, lending feeling to heaps of metal and silicon. —Colin Joyce

half dozen. Jack Ü - "Where Are Ü At present (feat. Justin Bieber)" (2015)

Where were you when you outset heard "Where Are Ü Now"? I was in the business district of New Orleans at 7:xxx in the morning, stumbling through a hangover to detect coffee and breakfast sandwiches earlier going on a gator tour. The vocal overwhelmed me (I was hungover), but "Where Are U Now" wasn't just a moment for me.

It was a moment for Diplo, who was emerging out of a serenity period and would go on to rightfully retake his position every bit 1 of popular's most stiff producers. It was a moment for Skrillex, who finally got his own due as a melodic genius afterward years of derision both earned and unearned. And information technology was a moment for pop's Rex Joffrey, Justin Bieber, who needed a hit like this to distract people from, well, everything else. And guess what? It worked.— Larry Fitzmaurice

5. Justice - "D.A.N.C.E." (2007)

When they blew up on the bloghouse circuit in the mid-aughts, Gaspar Augé and Xavier de Rosnay were leather-jacketed, distortion-peddling Jesus Christ Superstars for whom nostalgia meant "P.Y.T." and the old-school HBO logo. This monolithic Michael Jackson tribute folded loads of references into its children's choir, disco strings, and harpsichord, forth with Ed Banger'southward signature walking bass and all sorts of touches that haven't been heard at the VMAs since. No one has connected dance music to maximalist rock & roll quite like this.— Dan Weiss

4. Flux Pavilion - "Bass Cannon" (2011)

There'south an argument to exist made that filthy dubstep was the last truly original audio, with everything that followed devolving into mere genre synthesis or tweaks on a well-known formula. Think about information technology: when they emerged at the terminate of the aughts, demonic wobbles offered a genuinely shocking suspension in the continuum of popular music, unleashed from deep inside the Ableton matrix by a generation of Monster Free energy™-fueled ravers seeking something harder.

Of course, nobody ever did much with the sound other than construct ludicrous drops. But when you consider songs like "Bass Cannon," that complaint feels kinda wimpy. Flux Pavilion is a primary of cartoonish dynamics, his wall of bass burdensome the nimble marimba riff similar an avalanche falling on a teacup.— Ezra Marcus

3. Britney Spears - "Till the Globe Ends" (2011)

Did Britney Spears invent EDM? Put aside the outlandishness of the suggestion for a minute, and consider the style female vocalists typically appear within the context of the genre-cum-marketing-term: painted on with total anonymity, not unlike the blank android faces in the false-deep Will Smith sci-fi actioner I, Robot. There's a ton of subtext to exist read into this countless trend, almost all of it relating to industry-based misogyny—and Spears has certainly been through the wringer when information technology comes to the myriad ways that the music industry chews up and spits out female person artists.

"Till the World Ends," from Spears' 2011 album Femme Fatale, was borne from Spears' latest career phase—managed by a conservatorship that was set upward post-obit her highly publicized mental health struggles in the mid-to-tardily-2000s. She's sounded like a ghost in the automobile of her own music ever since, and this detail confection—spun to sugary perfection by producers Max Martin, Alexander Kronlund, Ke$ha, and Dr. Luke—is no exception. The "whoa-oh-oh"s sound like candy-painted drill bits tedious into the rail'southward cool, metallic foundation. It's giddy, impersonal, and an uncanny presaging of the "Alive for today, because tomorrow may never come up" attitude that would come to define EDM equally a whole. In other words, it'southward just as easy to overthink as it is to play over for the eightieth time. —Larry Fitzmaurice

2. Avicii - "Levels" (2011)

Imagine "Levels" in a vacuum. Forget the frats, and the festivals, and every time you lot heard information technology piped from the speakers at CVS at four in the morning. Taken on its own terms, there's something foreign almost it. The common cold fusion of diva vocals and stadium synths leaves a chemical aftertaste, a bolt of android ability streaking over the crowds in the Las Vegas desert. It'southward a post-homo sonic weapon—an alluring, frightening document of just how tiptop "height EDM" could be.— Ezra Marcus

1. Skrillex - "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" (2010)

Call back when people hated Skrillex? It feels like forever ago, but there was a fourth dimension in the 2010s when simply mentioning his name would make people (mostly, music critics) go admittedly apeshit. He was perverting the truthful nature of dubstep! His haircut sucked! He used to be emo! Also, his fans were terrible!

Like nigh music criticism, very little of these gripes have held upward years after—and the song that started it all, "Scary Monsters and Overnice Sprites," still bangs. Information technology's an otherworldly combination of old-school video game music, gross-sounding basslines, internet detritus, and the wide-eyed optimism of the lap-popular music fabricated by the Mail service, Lali Puna, and the Notwist in the early on 2000s. Listening back today, it reads like a Calvin-peeing windshield decal in the face of genre purism, and seems to predict today'southward postal service-genre pop music landscape.

And can yous talk nearly "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" without mentioning the drib? It's the song that launched a thousand bass faces. It practically made "the drop" a mainstream term—to the point that, after the song's release, Skrillex himself couldn't even share his favorite Aphex Twin vocal without existence plagued by a thousand people asking, "Where'due south the drib?"

And with expert reason: no other simulated-dubstep-era "drib"—the kind anchored around bass and so coruscating and abrasive that it knocks the fillings loose from your teeth—has sounded and so simultaneously aggressive and melodic. (You could whistle it, even.) Over the terminal five years, both Skrillex's piece of work and overground electronic music at large accept moved far past the blocky brilliance of "Scary Monsters and Squeamish Sprites," but both would audio unquestionably different if it never existed. Yous tin't light a powder keg without a match. —Larry Fitzmaurice

This article was originally published on THUMP.

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Source: https://www.vice.com/en/article/bjjdgv/the-101-best-edm-songs-best-dance-songs-of-all-time

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