125 Best First Dance Songs For Wedding Couples
When there are so many varieties of wedding ceremonies and reception styles, how do you define what is traditional for you? Should you choose to have the first dance as a newlywed couple, there are quite a few options. The best advice is to do something meaningful for you as a couple.
The progression of the evening is up to you: the bride and groom. The most important thing is to have the couple agree on a song that is special to them. To inspire you, we’ve curated the best 125 first dance songs out of thousands to choose from.
When is the first dance at my wedding?
The wedding first dance is the first dance between newlyweds as a married couple. This can be the first dance at the wedding reception. The first dance can also start the formal dances following the meal. This dance is commonly followed by the father-daughter dance and mother-son dance. The end of the ceremonial dances is marked by the entire wedding party dancing. The bridal party invites others to join.
It’s your wedding party. The timing of the bride and groom dance at the reception is based on your preferences. The first dance can be done immediately following the grand entrance. You can be surrounded by your wedding party if you wish. If being watched makes you uncomfortable, that’s okay, too.
Talk to your wedding planner, coordinate with the DJ, and earn more by reading our suggestion on how to format your wedding reception.
What is the Best First Dance Wedding Song?
The best first dance song as a couple is a subjective choice. BUT, if I had to choose just one song, it would be At Last by Etta James. Many brides and grooms prepare for months for their first dance by attending dance lessons. You may want to learn a magnificent waltz, spicy tango, or a glamorous dance routine you saw on Dancing with the Stars.
It is a wonderful surprise for the guests if they are entertained by the couple’s dance number. If you plan on doing a special, professional dance for your first dance, contact a local dance studio and get lessons.
When Should You Choose Your First Dance Song?
Pick out your first dance song well in advance so you can practice that specific tune. The most important thing is to choose something memorable from the catalog of wedding songs. First dance songs are a symbol of your love and commitment, so take your time in choosing.
Also, if you use the recorded version of the song, then practice to that version. If the band or musician will play it live, try to get a recording of their version ahead of time. This is important for practice. Again, talk about this with your wedding planner.
How Do You Make Your First Dance Special?
Making your first dance special is as simple as choosing a song that has meaning to you both — as a couple. Wedding first dance songs are remembered by the wedding couple for the rest of your lives. So, it’s important to pick a song that is significant to you. Some couples choose a funny song or an instrumental song. Those can be just as memorable as a touching ballad.
When the couple chooses the first song for a reason, it’s more special. Don’t be tricked into choosing a song because it was popular or traditional. Also, remember that though people are watching you, this dance is for you. Make eye contact. Chat with each other. Caress your partner. Enjoy the moment — it’s for you.
Does a First Dance Have to be Slow?
No. The first dance at your wedding reception does not have to be slow. However, it does set the mood for the entire reception. If you don’t have a song, we suggest selecting a song where the lyrics mean something to you.
Why do you think that Sarah McLachlan’s song “Ice Cream” is on many first dance song lists? It’s because it has cool words like “your love is better than chocolate, better than anything else that I’ve tried.” Corny? Maybe. But who cares what everyone else thinks? Maybe you met at an ice cream parlor. Then, the song would be awesome as a first dance song.
It’s okay to be creative. You don’t have to be like everyone else and dance to the overplayed Celine Dion love songs (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
Not only does the song not have to be slow, but it doesn’t have to adhere to any musical genre. Many wedding couples take dancing lessons to a jazz song, classical, or a rock ballad. That way, bridal couples don’t look goofy dancing in a circle through the whole song (like we did).
Couples who take dance lessons have a deeper connection to the song. It will have significant meaning to them for the rest of their lives since they spent so long practicing it. They will also have the memories of getting the lessons together — a great break from the stress of planning the wedding.
What Should You Choose for Your First Dance Song?
Being music enthusiasts, this was an easy choice for both my wife and me. We dedicated a song to each other during our courting stage.
Wedding couples should choose a song that means something to them. It doesn’t even necessarily have to be a slow song. This will be the first song as a married couple you will dance to — in public! All eyes are on you.
Similar song lists for further reading:
- 30 Classic First Dance Songs Perfect For Today
- 40 R&B First Dance Songs
- Best Country First Dance Songs
- 10 Wedding First Dance Songs Not Overplayed
- 21 Modern First Dance Songs
Top 125 First Dance Songs: The List
We cannot name all the great first dance songs. This is why we have listed the most popular wedding first dance songs around the United States.
First dance song list curated by Matthew Campbell
Last Updated: January 24, 2021
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| Song | Amazon Link | |
|---|---|---|
| A Great Big World You 2018, Pop |  | |
| Adam Doleac Another 2020, Country | | |
| Adele Lovesong 2011, Pop | | |
| Alana Springsteen Always Gonna Love You (First Dance Version) 2020, Country | | |
| Alex Harris Falling for You 2020, R&B | | |
| Alicia Keys No One 2007, R&B | | |
| Aly & AJ Slow Dancing 2020, Indie | | |
| Amours All The Time 2019, R&B | | |
| Andy Grammer I Am Yours 2019, Pop | | |
| Anthony Hamilton Best of Me 2011, R&B | | |
| Anthony Nix Because of You 2020, Country | | |
| Ben Folds The Luckiest 2001, Rock | | |
| Ben Rector Forever Like That 2013, Pop | | |
| Blake Shelton Duet with Gwen Stefani Nobody But You 2019, Country | | |
| Blake Shelton God Gave Me You 2011, Country | | |
| Blane Howard Promise to Love Her 2017, Country | | |
| Brad Paisley Then 2009, Country | | |
| Brett Young In Case You Didn't Know 2017, Country | | |
| Caleb Edens I Chose You 2019, Folk | | |
| Calum Scott & Leona Lewis You Are The Reason 2018, Pop | | |
| Chris Lane Big, Big Plans 2019, Country | | |
| Chris Stapleton Joy of My Life 2020, Country | | |
| Chris Stapleton Millionaire 2017, Country | | |
| Chris Stapleton Tennessee Whiskey 2015, Country | | |
| Chris Young Who I Am With You 2014, Country | | |
| Christina Perri A Thousand Years 2011, Pop | | |
| Dan + Shay & Justin Bieber 10,000 Hours 2019, Country | | |
| Dan + Shay From the Ground Up 2016, Country | | |
| Dan + Shay Speechless 2018, Country | | |
| Derran Day My Word 2018, R&B | | |
| Donovan Woods Clean Slate 2019, Country | | |
| Drew Holcomb & Ellie Holcomb Electricity 2019, Pop | | |
| Echosmith feat. Mat Kearney Tell Her You Love Her 2021, Pop | | |
| Ed Sheeran feat. YEBBA Best Part Of Me 2019, Pop | | |
| Ed Sheeran Perfect 2017, Rock | | |
| Ed Sheeran Thinking Out Loud 2014, Rock | | |
| Ellie Goulding How Long Will I Love You 2013, Pop | | |
| Eric Benet & Tamia Spend My Life With You 2000, R&B | | |
| Fantasia Enough 2019, R&B | | |
| Florida Georgia Line Second Guessing 2020, Country | | |
| Forest Blakk If You Love Her 2020, Pop | | |
| Fortunate Ones Before You 2018, Folk | | |
| Frank Ocean Moon River 2018, Pop | | |
| Greta Van Fleet You're the One 2018, Rock | | |
| H.E.R. feat. Daniel Caesar Best Part 2017, R&B | | |
| Haley Reinhart Can't Help Falling in Love With You 2015, Pop | | |
| Hollow Coves Evermore 2020, Indie | | |
| Imaginary Future & Kina Grannis I Will Spend My Whole Life Loving You 2017, Folk | | |
| India.Arie Steady Love 2019, R&B | | |
| Jack Johnson Better Together 2005, Rock | | |
| James Arthur Falling like the Stars 2019, Pop | | |
| James Arthur Say You Won't Let Go 2016, Pop | | |
| James TW Incredible 2019, Pop | | |
| Jasmine Rae When I Found You 2018, Country | | |
| Jason Aldean Got What I Got 2019, Country | | |
| Jason Aldean You Make It Easy 2018, Country | | |
| Jason Mraz I'm Yours 2008, Pop | | |
| Jeremy Zucker & Chelsea Cutler this is how you fall in love 2021, Pop | | |
| Jimmie Allen Best Shot 2018, Country | | |
| John Legend All Of Me 2013, R&B | | |
| John Mayer XO 2014, Rock | | |
| Johnny Gill and Ralph Tresvant Perfect 2019, R&B | | |
| Johnnyswim Touching Heaven 2016, Folk | | |
| Jonny Houlihan So in Love With You 2020, Country | | |
| Joy Williams No Place Like You 2019, Folk | | |
| Kacey Musgraves Butterflies 2018, Country | | |
| Kane Brown Good As You 2019, Country | | |
| Kane Brown Heaven 2017, Country | | |
| Kane Brown Homesick (First Dance Version) 2019, Country | | |
| Kem, Toni Braxton Live Out Your Love 2020, R&B | | |
| Kiana Ledé I Choose You (Acoustic) 2017, R&B | | |
| Kodaline The One 2015, Indie | | |
| LANY nobody else 2020, Rock | | |
| Lawson Bates feat. Olivia Collingsworth One + One 2019, Country Christian | | |
| Ledisi & PJ Morton Anything For You (The Duet) 2020, R&B | | |
| Ledisi Anything For You 2020, R&B | | |
| Lee Brice I Don't Dance 2014, Country | | |
| Leon Bridges Beyond 2018, R&B | | |
| Lifehouse You And Me 2005, Rock | | |
| Lukas Graham Love Someone 2018, Pop | | |
| Luke Combs Beautiful Crazy 2018, Country | | |
| Luke Combs Better Together 2019, Country | | |
| MAJOR. Why I Love You 2016, R&B | | |
| Matt Stell Prayed For You 2019, Country | | |
| Meghan Trainor feat. John Legend Like I'm Gonna Lose You 2015, Soul | | |
| Michael Buble Everything 2007, Jazz | | |
| Michelle Featherstone We Are Man And Wife 2007, Folk | | |
| Morgan Wallen Cover Me Up 2020, Country | | |
| NewSong When God Made You 2004, Christian | | |
| Niall Horan Black And White (Stripped) 2020, Pop | | |
| O.A.R. All Because of You 2019, Rock | | |
| Old Dominion One Man Band 2019, Country | | |
| P!nk feat. Chris Stapleton Love Me Anyway 2019, Pop | | |
| Phillip Phillips Dance With Me 2017, Pop | | |
| Phora feat. Jhené Aiko Stars In The Sky 2020, R&B | | |
| Pink Sweat$ 17 2020, R&B | | |
| Rahsaan Patterson Sent From Heaven 2019, R&B | | |
| Rascal Flatts Bless The Broken Road 2004, Country | | |
| Ray Lamontagne You Are The Best Thing 2008, Folk | | |
| Reneé Dominique feat. Jason Mraz Could I Love You Any More 2019, Pop | | |
| Robin Thicke That's What Love Can Do 2019, R&B | | |
| Ronan Keating & Emeli Sande One Of A Kind 2020, Pop | | |
| Ronan Keating Forever Aint Enough 2020, Pop | | |
| Ross David In the End 2019, Pop | | |
| Russell Dickerson Yours 2016, Country | | |
| Ryann Darling feat. Cory Ard For a Lifetime 2018, Pop | | |
| SafetySuit Never Stop (Wedding Version) 2012, Pop Rock | | |
| Samantha Durnan I Found You 2019, Indie | | |
| Sara Bareilles I Choose You 2014, Pop | | |
| Scotty McCreery This Is It 2018, Country | | |
| Sheffield Forever From Now 2019, Folk | | |
| Snoh Aalegra Find Someone Like You 2019, R&B | | |
| Tamia Today I Do 2018, R&B | | |
| Taylor Swift Lover (First Dance Remix) 2019, Pop | | |
| Temmora feat. Karma The Only One 2019, R&B | | |
| Thomas Rhett Die A Happy Man 2015, Country | | |
| Tiana Major9 & EARTHGANG Collide 2019, R&B | | |
| Tim McGraw & Faith Hill The Rest Of Our Life 2017, Country | | |
| Tom Odell Grow Old with Me 2013, Indie | | |
| Tom Walker Just You and I 2019, Indie | | |
| Train Marry Me 2010, Rock | | |
| Tyler Shaw When You're Home 2021, Pop | | |
| Vance Joy I'm With You 2018, Indie | | |
| Wade Bowen Who I Am 2020, Country | | |
| Whitney Houston I Will Always Love You 1992, R&B | | |
Hot New Songs Delivered Monthly!
I was so excited to see Leon Bridges on this list! We plan on dancing to his song Coming Home for our first dance.
Congratulations Devon. Yes, Leon Bridges is one of our favorite artists for weddings.
where can I find Once In A Lifetime by Robert J Walsh?
Hi Michael. Thanks for your suggestion. Your suggestion is a very romantic love song. One that the generation of its time will cherish.
Two I would add to this list would include Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville’s duet ‘All My Life’ (it’s best known as the wedding song from ‘Baywatch’ but was a popular first dance song in the 90s) and Anne Murray’s classic ‘Could I have This Dance’ from the movie ‘Urban Cowboy’.
Thank you for the suggestions. Yes, the 2 songs you mentioned are great first dance songs. However, their popularity as first dance songs has diminished over time. We do have the songs mentioned on other playlists on the site.
Kygo Firestone
Thanks for the suggestion Christe. Here is a link to the song on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Sc-ir2UwGU
This is an incredible list. Thank you so much. I will say though, my dream song since I was about 16 has been The Book of Love by Peter Gabriel.
Thank you, Victoria. I still see it on wedding lists. However, his most popular wedding song remains as “In Your Eyes” from the movie Say Anything.
While there’s thousands of good possibilities, another one that is worth mentioning is “You needed me” by Anne Murray.
Hi David. Thanks for your suggestion. Anne Murray is an all-time Country legend and this song would make for the perfect first dance song.
I’d add two songs
1. Jessie Ware-Say you love me
2. Kaliber-Call me out
I’m so in love with them! ??
Thanks Juliet. Jessie Ware – Say You Love Me is a great song with a ton of emotion and even includes Ed Sheeran. However, the story of the song don’t make it perfect for a first dance song (in our opinion).