After the nerves and jitters of your ceremony and the formalities of your wedding breakfast, once it’s time for your wedding reception to start, you can finally let your hair down. Your wedding reception is an evening filled with fun, spending time with your newly enlarged family, eating and – of course – dancing.
And the best way to get your guests to join you on the dancefloor is with a banging playlist filled with classics, romantic hits, chart toppers and even a few cheesy numbers thrown in for good measure. And while it’s important to have a mix of songs playing at your wedding reception, you probably won’t want to just hit ‘random’. That’s why a carefully chosen playlist can ensure you throw a party no one will soon forget.
In this article, we’ll run through 175 of the best wedding reception songs to consider including in your playlist, from high-energy anthems to those so-bad-they’re-great crowd-pleasers.
What songs do you need at a wedding reception?
There’s way more to your wedding reception than a disco, with a whole range of different types of songs playing, depending on the size and style you’ve gone for. Here are the most common types of songs you might expect to hear at a wedding reception:
- Entrance song: A usually upbeat song that plays when the happy couple enters the reception venue for the first time.
- First dance song: A romantic and slow-tempo song that the couple will have their first official dance to.
- Parents’ dance: A slower song that plays as the couple dances with their parents, such as a father-daughter and mother-son dance.
- Cultural songs: It may be appropriate to play songs that honour the families’ cultures and beliefs.
- Party songs: When the disco starts, it’s time to throw some shapes to popular crowd-pleasers!
- Closing song: Usually a funny or relevant song that lets your guests know the night has come to an end.
What makes for a good wedding reception song?
A good wedding reception song helps to capture the feeling of love and celebration that fits with the tone of your overall wedding. You can choose from a mix of genres, eras, styles and artists, to make sure you have tunes that suit everyone’s tastes.
Here are a few characteristics that make for a great wedding reception song:
- High energy: Make sure you have songs that everyone wants to dance to
- Timeless: Songs that everyone instantly recognises and no doubt already loves.
- Emotional: Songs focused on love and happiness will always go down well.
- Relevance: Try to choose some songs with heartfelt and celebratory lyrics, or lyrics that you have a personal connection to.
- Danceability: Of course, the songs have to have a beat everyone can dance to!
- Variety: Choose different songs that will appeal to a wide variety of age groups. Yes, you might love hard rock, but can your 97-year-old grandma dance to it all night long?
- Cultural significance: If you have songs that relate to your background or culture, it’s great to honour them by including some.
What sorts of genres should you include?
What genres of music you choose to include at your wedding reception is really down to you, your tastes and the tone you’re going for. The important thing is to choose a wide variety of songs from lots of different genres. But, you also want to make sure the songs flow nicely from one to the next – though that’s for your DJ (if you have one) to worry about.
A well-rounded wedding reception playlist will include songs from genres like:
- Pop
- Classic rock
- R&B
- Disco
- Indie
- Motown
- Dance
- Country
- Hip-hop
This list is far from exhaustive. Whatever your musical tastes, there are absolutely ways to include them in your reception playlist. Have a chat with whoever is in charge of your music and let them know the sort of songs you’d like.
How many songs do you need at your wedding reception?
The number of songs that will play at your wedding reception depends entirely on the length of your evening.
As a rough guide, most songs are between three and four minutes in length, which means approximately 15 to 20 songs will play per hour. So, if your reception lasts two hours, up to 40 songs will play. If it’s four hours, up to 80 songs will play.
But, it’s always best to choose more than you need if you want to make sure your playlist is only full of your favourite tunes.
175 of the best songs to include in your wedding reception
Choosing your wedding reception playlist can be a lot of fun, but with an almost endless number of songs out there, where on Earth do you start? To help you whittle things down, we’ve put together 175 of the best wedding reception songs, so you can throw the party of the century.
20 wedding entrance songs
Key Lyrics: ‘It’s a beautiful night, we’re looking for something dumb to do.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Bring ’em out, bring ’em out, bring ’em out, bring ’em out!’
Key Lyrics: ‘I got that sunshine in my pocket, got that good soul in my feet.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Here I am, signed, sealed, delivered, I’m yours.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Meet me at the altar in your white dress.’
Key Lyrics: ‘This will be an everlasting love for me.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I feel so close to you right now, it’s a force field.’
Key Lyrics: ‘We found love in a hopeless place.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Tonight’s gonna be a good night.’
Key lyrics: ‘I’m yours.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I’m walking on sunshine, whoa!’
Key Lyrics: ‘Ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no valley low enough.’
Key Lyrics: ‘All you need is love, love, love is all you need.’
Key Lyrics: ‘You make my dreams come true.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I throw my hands up in the air sometimes, saying ‘ayo, gotta let go.”
Key Lyrics: ‘Welcome to the good life.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I’m on top of the world, hey!’
Key Lyrics: ‘Let’s get it started in here.’
Key Lyrics: ‘It’s a beautiful day, don’t let it get away.’
Looking for a little more inspo for wedding entrance songs? Read our article featuring 150 of the best wedding entrance songs for even more ideas.
20 first dance songs
Key Lyrics: ‘I found a love, to carry more than just my secrets.’
Key Lyrics: ‘At last, my love has come along.’
Key Lyrics: ‘All of me loves all of you.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Take me into your loving arms.’
Key Lyrics: ‘You are the best thing that ever happened to me.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I’m gonna love you till my lungs give out.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Lucky I’m in love with my best friend.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Take my hand, take my whole life too.’
Key Lyrics: ‘She might just be my everything and beyond.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I’m speechless, staring at you standing there in that dress.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I could die a happy man.’
Key Lyrics: ‘It’s always better when we’re together.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Can I go where you go?’
Key Lyrics: ‘You’re everything, everything to me.’
Key Lyrics: ‘You say it best (you say it best) when you say nothing at all.’
Key Lyrics: ‘We’ll build this love from the ground up.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I get to love you, it’s the best thing I’ll ever do.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Oh, my love, my darling, I’ve hungered for your touch.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I could make you happy, make your dreams come true.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I came to life when I first kissed you.’
20 songs couples can dance to
Key Lyrics: ‘I’m off the deep end, watch as I dive in / I’ll never meet the ground.’
- Key Lyrics: ‘Oh, when you’re cold, I’ll be there / Hold you tight to me (to me, yeah).’
Key Lyrics: ‘Some people want it all, but I don’t want nothing at all / If it ain’t you, baby.’
Key Lyrics: ‘You’re my water when I’m stuck in the desert / You’re the Tylenol I take when my head hurts.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Just let me adore you / Like it’s the only thing I’ll ever do.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I have died every day waiting for you / Darling, don’t be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Now I’ve got you in my space / I won’t let go of you.’
Key Lyrics: ‘No one, no one, no one / Can get in the way of what I’m feeling.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Come away with me and we’ll kiss on a mountaintop.’
Key Lyrics: ‘You send me / Honest you do, honest you do.’
Key Lyrics: ‘You can feel it in your mind, oh, you can do it all the time.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Bring me a higher love / Where’s that higher love I keep thinking of?’
Key Lyrics: ‘You’re still the one I run to / The one that I belong to.’
Key Lyrics: ‘One, you’re like a dream come true / Two, just wanna be with you.’
Key Lyrics: ‘So I’m gonna love you like I’m gonna lose you.’
Key Lyrics: ‘In the darkest night, I’ll search through the crowd / Your face is all that I see.’
Key Lyrics: ‘How sweet it is to be loved by you.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Let’s stay together, loving you whether / Times are good or bad, happy or sad.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I’ve been searching my whole life through / For someone like you.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Ooh baby, I love your way, every day.’
50 high-energy songs that everyone can dance to
Key Lyrics: ‘Don’t believe me, just watch!’
Key Lyrics: ‘Don’t stop believin’ / Hold on to that feelin’.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Oh, I wanna dance with somebody / I wanna feel the heat with somebody.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Oh, don’t you dare look back / Just keep your eyes on me.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Do you remember the 21st night of September?’
Key Lyrics: ‘Whoa, we’re halfway there / Whoa-oh, livin’ on a prayer.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Yeah, yeah, shorty got down low, said, ‘Come and get me.”
Key Lyrics: ‘Billie Jean is not my lover / She’s just a girl who claims that I am the one.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Sweet Caroline / Good times never seemed so good.’
Key Lyrics: ‘You are the dancing queen / Young and sweet, only seventeen.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Everybody cut footloose!’
Key Lyrics: ‘The players gonna play, play, play, play, play / And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Got me looking so crazy right now, your love’s got me looking so crazy right now.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Shake it like a Polaroid picture!’
Key Lyrics: ‘She’s a very kinky girl / The kind you don’t take home to mother.’
Key Lyrics: ‘So wake me up when it’s all over / When I’m wiser and I’m older.’
Key Lyrics: ‘If you liked it, then you shoulda put a ring on it.’
Key Lyrics: ‘We are family / I got all my sisters with me.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Party rock is in the house tonight / Everybody just have a good time.’
Key Lyrics: ‘We’re up all night to get lucky.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Can’t nobody tell me nothing / You can’t tell me nothing.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Oh, baby, when you talk like that, you make a woman go mad.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Players, put your pinky rings up to the moon!’
Key Lyrics: ‘Let’s groove tonight / Share the spice of life.’
Key Lyrics: ‘We’re going to party, karamu, fiesta, forever.’
Key Lyrics: ‘So rock your body right.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Treasure, that is what you are / Honey, you’re my golden star.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Jump around! Jump around!’
Key Lyrics: ‘I got you, moonlight, you’re my starlight.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Senorita, I feel for you / You deal with things that you don’t have to.’
Key Lyrics: ‘We will, we will rock you.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Please don’t stop the music.’
Key Lyrics: ‘To the right, to the right, to the right, to the right.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I knew my rent was gonna be late about a week ago.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I don’t care, I love it!’
Key Lyrics: ‘Welcome to my house / Baby, take control now.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Wobble baby, wobble baby, wobble baby, wobble.’
Key Lyrics: ‘If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends.’
Key Lyrics: ‘With a taste of your lips, I’m on a ride.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I hate these blurred lines.’
Key Lyrics: ‘When the working day is done, oh, girls just want to have fun.’
Key Lyrics: ‘You know you make me wanna shout!’
Key Lyrics: ‘I want your love and I want your revenge / You and me could write a bad romance.’
Key Lyrics: ‘You shook me all night long.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Let’s get loud, let’s get loud.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Oh, I’ll be comin’ for your love, okay.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Pour some sugar on me / In the name of love.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Jealousy, turning saints into the sea.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Look what you made me do, I’m with somebody new.’
20 wedding reception classics
Key Lyrics: ‘R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me.’
Key Lyrics: ‘You’re my brown-eyed girl.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Come on, come on, come on, baby now.’
Key Lyrics: ‘We’re gonna rock around the clock tonight.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Celebrate good times, come on!’
Key Lyrics: ‘Let’s rock, everybody, let’s rock.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire!’
Key Lyrics: ‘Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Oh no, not I, I will survive.’
Key Lyrics: ‘It’s fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.’
Key Lyrics: ‘We are family, I got all my sisters with me.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Sweet home Alabama, where the skies are so blue.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Why do you build me up, buttercup, baby?’
- Key Lyrics: ‘Yes, I’ve been black, but when I come back, you’ll know, know, know.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Big wheels keep on turning.’
Key Lyrics: ‘These are the good times.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Oh, when I look back now.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Oh baby, give me one more chance.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I’m coming out, I want the world to know.’
Key Lyrics: ‘She was an American girl.’
15 songs that older guests can dance to
Key Lyrics: ‘Unforgettable, that’s what you are / Unforgettable, though near or far.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Some day, when I’m awfully low / When the world is cold, I will feel a glow just thinking of you.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day / When it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I see trees of green, red roses too / I see them bloom for me and you / And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.’
Key Lyrics: (Instrumental – known for its iconic swing melody and lively rhythm.)
Key Lyrics: ‘If the sky that we look upon should tumble and fall / Or the mountain should crumble to the sea / I won’t cry, I won’t cry, no, I won’t shed a tear.’
Key Lyrics: ‘You make me feel so young / You make me feel like spring has sprung.’
Key Lyrics: ‘You’re just too good to be true / Can’t take my eyes off of you.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars / Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Come on baby, let’s do the twist / Take me by my little hand and go like this.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Well, you can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Calling out around the world, are you ready for a brand new beat? / Summer’s here and the time is right for dancing in the street.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Para bailar la Bamba, se necesita una poca de gracia.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Are the stars out tonight? / I don’t know if it’s cloudy or bright / ‘Cause I only have eyes for you.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Here’s my story, it’s sad but true / It’s about a girl that I once knew.’
15 funny songs to play at a wedding reception
Key Lyrics: ‘Another one bites the dust / And another one gone, and another one gone, another one bites the dust.’
Key Lyrics: ‘You love her, but she loves him / And he loves somebody else, you just can’t win.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Hit the road Jack, and don’t you come back no more, no more, no more, no more.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped-up four-wheel drive.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Now I ain’t sayin’ she a gold digger / But she ain’t messin’ with no broke…’
Key Lyrics: ‘I’m on the highway to hell.’
Key Lyrics: ‘But she caught me on the counter / It wasn’t me.’
Key Lyrics: ‘It’s gettin’ hot in here, so take off all your clothes.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I love it when you call me Big Poppa.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Heeey, macarena!’
Key Lyrics: ‘I’m too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt, so sexy it hurts.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Who let the dogs out? Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof.’
‘Getting jiggy wit It’ – Will Smith
Key Lyrics: ‘On your mark, ready, set, let’s go / Dancefloor pro, I know you know.’
Key Lyrics: ‘But I would walk 500 miles / And I would walk 500 more.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Oops!… I did it again, I played with your heart, got lost in the game.’
15 underrated songs to play at a wedding reception
Key Lyrics: ‘Baby, you’re like lightning in a bottle / I can’t let you go now that I got it.’
Key Lyrics: ‘If he don’t love you anymore / Just walk your fine self out the door.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Baby, it’s you / You’re the one I love, you’re the one I need.’
Key Lyrics: ‘When I hold her in my arms, you know she sets my soul on fire.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I don’t wanna see you go / I want somebody to love me.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I wanna be your lover, I wanna be the only one that makes you come running.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Ooh, I’m a rebel just for kicks now / I’ve been feelin’ it since 1966 now.’
Key Lyrics: ‘You’re just my type / Oh, you got a pulse and you are breathing.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Life could be a dream, if I could take you up in paradise up above.’
Key Lyrics: ‘When I’m with you, it’s all good / It’s all good, all good.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I need just a little of your love / I need just a little of your love.’
Key Lyrics: ‘I belong with you, you belong with me, you’re my sweetheart.’
Key Lyrics: ‘Dancing in the moonlight / Everybody’s feeling warm and bright.’
Key Lyrics: ‘From time to time I pinch myself / Because I think my girl mistakes me for somebody else.’
Key Lyrics: ‘We light up the world / We were fire and stone.’
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Browse our huge selection of wedding bands and DJs and find the perfect playlist for your wedding, so you have a night to remember.
You Might Also Like…
- The 150 Best Wedding Entrance Songs
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- The Ultimate Wedding Ceremony Guide
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Happy Planning!
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