Ace of Base — "All That She Wants"
A dark reggae-pop fusion from Sweden that conquered the world. If "All That She Wants" wasn't the song that opened the door to the European dance-pop invasion, nothing was.
#Dance Pop
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![Video thumbnail — Cher - Believe (Official Music Video) [4K Remaster]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nZXRV4MezEw/hqdefault.jpg)
Cher — "Believe"
"Do you believe in life after love?" — though half the school bus could swear she was singing "life after life." Cher's 1998 comeback single was the Auto-Tune big bang: the first time most of the planet heard a human voice warble like a machine, and the moment a 52-year-old icon out-charted the entire pop landscape.
"Everytime We Touch" — Cascada
The eurodance sugar-rush that soundtracked every mid-2000s school dance, roller rink, and flip-phone ringtone. Cascada's Natalie Horler belting over hammering synths made "Everytime We Touch" inescapable — and nobody could stay off the floor when it hit.
Katy Perry
The candy-striped retro-pinup pop star who opened summer 2008 with a song that topped charts for seven straight weeks and didn't let go all year. Katy Perry was inescapable.
"Tik Tok" by Ke$ha
One song, one glitter-caked hook, and the exact second the 2000s became the 2010s. "Tik Tok" arrived on August 7, 2009, as Kesha's debut single — then spent nine weeks at number one making sure everyone on earth had heard it.
La Bouche
The Eurodance duo that carried producer Frank Farian's Midas touch from Boney M. into the '90s. "Be My Lover" didn't just top charts—it scored over 6 million copies sold worldwide.
La Bouche — "Be My Lover"
The massive follow-up that conquered Europe and cracked the US Top 10. That infectious "la da da dee da da da da" hook? It was completely improvised.
La Bouche — "Sweet Dreams"
La Bouche's debut that introduced Melanie Thornton's massive voice to the world. It took a year and a half to reach America, but when it did, it owned every roller rink and school dance.
Lady Gaga
A New York songwriter who wrote for Britney and the Pussycat Dolls — and got dropped by Def Jam — reinvented herself as Lady Gaga and detonated across 2008–09. The Fame sent "Just Dance" and "Poker Face" to #1, and within a year she'd gone from songwriter-for-hire to the sound of pop.
"Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado
Nelly Furtado flirting with Timbaland over crisp club production was the sound of a total reinvention: out with the earnest folk-pop, in with sleek and urgent. Released in April 2006, it spent six weeks at #1, became her first American chart-topper, and owned that summer outright.
The Outhere Brothers — "Boom Boom Boom"
A Chicago duo's chanted one-liner that nobody was sure was appropriate but everyone chanted at school dances anyway. The radio edit and album version were practically two different songs.
Paul Oakenfold — "Starry Eyed Surprise"
The superstar-DJ-goes-pop moment of 2002: British trance producer Paul Oakenfold handed the mic to Shifty Shellshock and turned a Harry Nilsson sample into an inescapable summer sing-along. It felt bigger than its chart position ever suggested.
Vengaboys — "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!!"
Yes, there are exactly four booms and two exclamation marks in the title. The Dutch party machine's biggest UK smash—a certified banger that hit #1 while America barely noticed.