Finding the Rhythm

The top 50 dance songs of 2008

December 25, 2008 at 8:09 pm 3 comments

As we bring 2008 to a close, like a lot of people, I find myself reflecting on the state of things. And while the year might well have had a lot of ups and downs on more fronts than I can count, I can say it was a good year for dance music all in all.

Preparing my “top 50″ for 2008 was more difficult than I remember it being last year. But like last year, it’s based on a combination of overall frequency of play (the number of times I spun a song), which includes my preferences and requests, and my own subjective sense of things. While playback frequency works well for my weekly charts, for looking at a whole year, it puts tracks released later in the year at a real disadvantage, since they have less opportunity to get played (in terms of raw numbers). In charts like this where it’s entirely subjective, the reverse tends to happen; newer tracks, fresher on the mind, get priority over all the “old stuff” from early in the year.

In any case, I tried to balance things out while retaining what I hope is the point of these charts, and I’m fairly happy with the end result. I present it now for your enjoyment (and criticism). As usual, just like my DJ sets, I think you’ll find me bucking the trends in some regards (Lady GaGa’s Just Dance is notably absent from this chart, while the relatively unknown Lisa Law with Wicked Ways comes-in at #6), while embracing them in others (like the songs that ended-up in #1 and #2).

Anyway, enjoy the anomalies, and here’s to more great music in 2009.

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