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A song that came with built-in instructions. Chicago's DJ Casper wrote the routine as an aerobics exercise for his nephew in 1998; the 2000 release hit radio and never left. It didn't need to be a big chart hit — it became the one dance every wedding, school event, and skating rink could count on, because the song tells you exactly what to move.
Let it rain, and clear it out. "Chicken Noodle Soup" rode a Harlem dance from the block to grainy YouTube uploads to the Billboard charts — part of the first wave of dance crazes the internet taught America.
The First Lady of Crunk&B. Ciara arrived in 2004 with "Goodies" and a run of singles that owned school dances for half a decade — icy vocals over crunk beats, and choreography so sharp the music-video channels basically belonged to her.
One man, a black T-shirt, a spotlight, and a six-minute journey through decades of dance moves. Judson Laipply's "Evolution of Dance" was the video everyone forwarded to everyone else — proof that YouTube could make a star out of anybody with an idea and a camcorder.
The "ESPN Presents Jock Jams" compilation CDs — nonstop stadium hype music that stitched together dance anthems, cheerleader chants, and announcer shout-outs. If you played sports or went to a game in the late 90s, this was the soundtrack blasting over the PA.
"Don't Cha" wish your girlfriend was hot like them — the question every radio in 2005 asked roughly once an hour. The Pussycat Dolls arrived fully formed in matching choreography and smoky eyeliner, a burlesque act reverse-engineered into a chart juggernaut, with Nicole Scherzinger doing most of the singing and all six doing the strut.
A 16-year-old self-produced a ringtone rap that conquered MySpace, YouTube, and every school talent show. The Superman dance was inescapable, the song spent weeks at #1, and nobody asked permission from traditional radio.
Street dancer meets ballet school, sparks and choreography ensue. The 2006 Baltimore dance romance that launched Channing Tatum, a five-film franchise — and, off-screen, the era's most beloved dance-movie couple.
![Video thumbnail — YOU GOT SERVED [2004] - Official Trailer (HD)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zs6JKMHDjqM/maxresdefault.jpg)
The dance-battle movie so quotable its title became a nationwide diss. B2K, Marques Houston, a warehouse full of head-spins — critics hated it, audiences made it #1 in America, and every school hallway in 2004 turned into a battle circle.