Best Dance Music of 2008

The Year in Dance Music for 2008:  The downloads, the hot remixes, and the divas.

It has taken me a few weeks to put together this list because I wanted to look over several sources to make sure it is just perfect.  This list is based on music played from the club play from DJ’s nationwide, compiled from Sirius The Beat Playlists, XM BPM Playlists (sorry the MediaBase link is no longer working), and the Billboard dance and club airplay charts.  The energy that the dancefloor gets on a song is also what I base my lists on… I notice biotches.  Mix it all together and you have the hottest songs of 2008.

One of my favorite songs of the year was American Boy from Estelle and Kayne West especially when I heard it in London.  Britney’s Gimme More was played a lot over in Paris along with Madonna’s Give It To Me which always had everyone on the dance floor.  In the US, everyone went nuts when Gimme More came on because it was like we were feeling some of the pain our girl Britney was going through.  It was ranked as the number one song for last year on our top dance charts.

You have to give it up to Britney Spears who has supported gay clubs all along.  She showed up at Piranha in Las Vegas, Tigerheat Thursdays in Los Angeles, and hit up G-A-Y bar in London for her birthday celebration.  I don’t mind supporting artists that support us and especially support our clubs.  These days we need all the help our clubs can get!

Madonna got a lot of good airplay in the clubs this year with zillions of afterparties for her concert.  I think I showed up at a “few” of those and danced my ass off.  Some were called Madonna-Rama some called Madonna-ista some Madonna afterparty.  It was the year of being Sticky and Sweet.

Our girl Britney’s Myspace page has already generated nearly 31 Million plays of Womanizer compared to just under 10 Million for Gimme More which was the most played song from Black Out.  I thought Gimme More was a hot song but I guess she’s selling this CD a lot better than her last in terms of doing interviews, playing live events over 10 minutes long, and being EVERYWHERE this last month like Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers.  Britney Spears has ended 2008 with a bang and will rock the dance floors with her new cd for months to come.

Cyndi Lauper was also one of my favorites in 2008.  She rocked the nation in small and big cities with her True Colors Tour to benefit the HRC.  Cyndi appeared on As The World Turns to sing Into The Nightlife for the hot gay boys on that show.  Hell yeah!!  I think Cyndi should get the Diva of the year award!!

Jesse McCartney came back this year with his “Leavin’” and how we love to look him up and down.  Some gay artists emerged this year on the Logo channel Johnny Dangerous (not to be confused with Jonny McGovern) who had some catchy sexy sounding rap like beats.  The dudes did not do too much this year though except for Justin Timberlake appearing in 4 minutes and talking Madge up to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

My favorite DJ’s of the year are DJ Tucker from Houston, DJ Erik “Hefty Lefty” Dallas, DJ Riley in Chicago, The Perry Twins, Chris Cox (not the other Cox), 4 Strings (Curious), DJ David Knapp, and DJ Roland Belmares (Beach Party in Pensacola).  If BoysTownLive.com could be a club I would be in it dancing they have the best music of any radio station online or versus satellite radio.

Best 40 Dance Songs for  2008

1. Give It To Me – Madonna – (Paul Oakenfold)
2. Into The Nightlife – Cyndi Lauper (Soul Seekerz Club)
3. Take A Bow – Rihanna (David Knapp)
4. Hot N’ Cold – Katy Perry (Dena Cucci’s PMS Mix)
5. Disturbia – Rihanna (Jody Den Broeder Mix)
6. Stamp Your Feet – Donna Summers
7. I Kissed A Girl – Katy Perry (Nevins Rock Funkrokr extended mix)
8. Piece of Me – Britney Spears
9. Bleeding Love (Moto Blanco Edit) – Leona Lewis
10. Surrender Me – Tony Moran & Warren Rigg present Debby Hol
11. So What – Pink
12. 4 Minutes – Madonna and Justin Timberlake (Paul Oakenfold)
13. The Boss (Love To Infinity Mix) – Kristine W.
14. American Boy – Estelle and Kayne West
15. Touch My Body (Seamus Haji Remix) – Mariah Carey
16. Womanizer – Britney Spears
17. We Break the Dawn – Michelle Williams
18. Just Dance – Lady Gaga
19. Miles Away – Madonna / Johnny Vicious Mix – noted as the most popular song for 2008 in the Masterbeat chart.
20. Cyndi Lauper – Same Ol’ F**king Story (Razor & Guido Remix)
21. Toca’s Miracle 2008 (Inpetto Remix) – Fragma / Single Ladies (Put a ring on it) – Beyonce (Dave Aude)
22. Me – Tamia (Soul Seekerz Remix)
23. Cascada – What Hurts The Most
24. Spotlight – Jennifer Hudson and the Moto Blanco Club Mix
25. Automatic 2008 – Ultra Nate (JLouis & Ferran Vocal mix)
26. Love In This Club – Usher (MSTRKRFT REMiX)
27. Bring It On – Peter Bailey & Carlos F.
28. Boys of Freedom – Dor Dekel (Mike Rizzo Global Club Mix)
29. Closer – NeYo (Stonebridge Radio Edit)
30. Every Word – Ercola f. Daniella (Wendel kos club mix)
31. You Make Me Feel – Anna Grace
32. Faded – Cascada (Wideboys Mix)
33. Drive Out – Sunfreakz (the Attik club mix)
34. Feel Your Love – Kim Sozzi (extended)
35. Shut Up and Let Me Go – The Ting Tings (Chris Lake UK Vocal)
36. Angel – Natasha Bedingfield
37. Bossy – Lindsay Lohan (Mike Rizzo Funk Generation Radio Mix)
38. Feedback – Janet (Jeremy Word Music)
39. Behind – Flanders (Callea Radio mix)
40. Dave Aude Featuring Sisely Treasure  – Grass Is Greener

Some other names I meant to add were Miley Cyrus, 4 Strings, and I could go on forever.

Who will be the big artists for 2009?

Look out for LeAnn Rimes “What I cannot Change” – I was lucky enough to meet her before and I wished she could get the chance to see how gay guys love her music at the clubs.  Coyote Ugly brought out some of the hottest dance hits.  She has a new album and its already being played on BPM.  Beyonce with Single Ladies is kicking some butt on the billboard singles charts right now and If I were a Boy.  Kristine W has a new single out called Never that should get some club play (the DJ escape mix is fun along with the Perry Twins mix).

Of course we know that Britney Spears will top charts in 2009 (hmm maybe even with Radar which was ignored on her last album).  Madonna should have a greatest hits coming out?  And hopefully we get some hot guys who can dance that can be the next Ricky Martin.  Where are the dudes?

One of the best places online to buy dance music is not at iTunes or Amazon.com but at Masterbeat.com which is owned by a DJ and has every dance tune you are looking for.  Every type of remix available should be on that site.  I was very impressed with the Masterbeat site and the new music they had to offer along with the old school remixes.

Support gay owned businesses such as Masterbeat.com where you can get music for the same price as iTunes and may be a way to vote to get it played more!  Another place to download DRM free music is Amazon.com where it’s mostly .99 per mp3 but their dance list is not from the DJ pros like over at the master of beats.  The site is owned by a DJ so I think MB knows their music.  You do not have to download software with Masterbeat like you do with Amazon and iTunes.

If Christmas music is your thing then the D1 Club Christmas is on the Masterbeat site.  Carol of the Bells is a eventful song on this volume 1 collection.  And if you are going to miss George Bush in 2009 then you should download the Live Again song from DJ Stonebridge.  Love it!