From hazy break-beats, to pumping acid techno, to hands-in-the-air Detroit diva house, 2018 was another great year for dance music. So many upstart labels shined and delivered great releases, countless new names floated to the top of lineups, and some of our favorite artists continued to bring the goods.
Bearing in mind that year-end lists tire everyone out and usually suck, here are forty tracks that heavily sound-tracked my radio show, club gigs, car stereo, and beyond — presented in alphabetical order because any ranking would be completely arbitrary.
Tune into WKDU one last time in 2018 for the ‘Resolutions Show’ from 8:30 – 10:30 pm, where we’ll read your resolutions on air, play some of the tracks below, and prepare you for a brand new year!
🎉 HAPPY NEW YEAR 🎉
The Top 40 Dance Tracks of 2018 (in alphabetical order)
| Artist | Track | Label |
| Waajeed | After You Left | DIRT TECH RECK |
| Hugo Massien | Alien Shapes | E-BEAMZ |
| Videopath | And So Do Eye | Peach Discs |
| Sa’D Ali | Asylum (Louie Vega Deep In The Underground) | Nulu Electronic |
| Steffi | Between Form & Matter | Air Texture |
| Pangaea | Bonesucka | Hessle Audio |
| Sami | Bright Blue feat. ZSY | 1432 R |
| Dj Steaw | Celestial Vibrations | Rutillance Recordings |
| Leo Pol | Dark Outside | Bass Culture |
| J. Albert | Deep State Riddim | Trilogy Tapes |
| Marquis Hawkes, Ursula Rucker | Don’t U (Dubbed Out Vocal) | Aus Music |
| Roza Terenzi | Electronique | Oscillate Tracks |
| Almaty | Gennaro (Endian Remix) | naïve |
| Moodymann | Got Me Coming Back Rite Now | Mahogani Music |
| Lady Blacktronica | How I Learned | Meda Fury |
| Omar S featuring Simon Black | I’ll Do It Again | FXHE |
| Baltra | IWUNNAF33L | CD-R |
| Scott Richmond and John Selway | Keep On Climbing | Firehouse NYC |
| Teakup | Lose My Mind | is / was |
| Heckadecimal | Murder Tape | Great Circles |
| Brother Nebula | Parting Infinity | Legwork |
| DJ Koze | Pick Up | Pampa |
| Hoshina Anniversary | Pimp | Jack Dept. |
| Batu | Rebuilt | XL Recordings |
| BMG & Derek Plaslaiko | Rendezvous (NWB Mix) | Interdimensional Transmissions |
| DJ Dre | Respect | These Things Take Time |
| Galcher Lustwerk | Rules Meant to Be Broken | Lustwerk Music |
| Djrum | Sex | R&S Records |
| D. Tiffany | Sip & Savour | Planet Euphorique |
| AceMo | Speedn N Smokin | Vanity Press |
| Will Dimaggio | Steppin W Friends | Future Times |
| Universal Cave | Take Your Time (Universal Cave’s 909 Rubdown) | Universal Cave |
| Omar S & Brian Kage | Thru The Madness | Michigander |
| Antemeridian | Tuesday AM | The Bunker NY |
| Alex Falk | Upp | International Black |
| The Horn | Villager (Luca Lozano Remix) | Klasse Wrecks |
| Scott Grooves | We Move…We Have To | Natural Midi |
| Marie Davidson | Work It | Ninja Tune |
| Shawn Rudiman | Works On Paper | Pittsburgh Tracks |
| Cassy X Pete Moss | You Gotta Know (Ron Trent Remix) | Kwench |
Thank you to all the labels, artists, PRs, etc for the great music!!! See you next year — SPREAD LOVE <3 <3 <3
Catch the Hot Mix on Tuesday nights at 10 pm for a preview of The Top 40 Dance Tracks of 2019 ; )