100 Greatest Music Artists With Wedding Hits
VH1 released a list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. However, we would like to take that list and provide our favorite wedding songs by those artists.
Some artists listed do not perform music considered standard wedding music.
If we are speechless on a suggestion, please offer your own as a comment. We will consider making changes to our list.
Artists & Bands 1-20
From VH1’s list of greatest artists, we revamped the list to each artist’s wedding songs. If the artist does not have any popular wedding songs, they were left off the list!
#1 The Beatles – Being former wedding DJs, the 2 most popular Beatles songs that were most commonly requested were “When I’m Sixty-Four” and “In My Life”. If you want a Beatles’ party song, play “Twist & Shout”.
#2 Michael Jackson – You could select “Thriller” as a fantastic group line dance. For a love song, we select “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You”.
#3 Led Zeppelin – This is a coin flip for our favorite Led Zeppelin wedding song between “Thank You” and “All Of My Love”.
#4 The Rolling Stones – If you want an entrance song, football games commonly began with “Start Me Up”. To get people on the dance floor, we suggest “Brown Sugar”.
#5 Bob Dylan – For all the folk fans I don’t think you would be disappointed with “I Want You”.
#6 Jimi Hendrix – A great song all about ladies for the bouquet toss and all about the ladies present at a wedding reception is “Foxey Lady”.
#7 Prince – What a great way to have the bride and groom kiss is every time Prince sings “Kiss”, the bride and groom must kiss. This is better than tinging on glasses and ringing bells.
#8 Elvis Presley – One of the most romantic songs of all time sung in acapella is “Can’t Help Falling In Love”.
#9 James Brown – Let’s get everyone to the dance floor and feel good with “I Got You (I Feel Good)”.
#10 Stevie Wonder – Our favorite wedding song by Stevie Wonder is “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life”. However, a great song just about the bride is “Isn’t She Lovely”.
#11 Bob Marley – The reggae master hits all the right wedding notes in his song “Three Little Birds”.
#12 David Bowie – Our wedding song pick is appropriately called “The Wedding Song”.
#13 The Who – This was actually a difficult pick. We select a great grand entrance song from the hit show CSI – “Who Are You”.
#14 Nirvana – The most mainstream song by Nirvana was “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. However, for the Nirvana fan, we would select “Heart-Shaped Box”.
#15 The Beach Boys – If you are a slower tempo song, we select “Kokomo”. For a more upbeat song, we select “Good Vibrations”.
#16 Madonna – We could easily select “Vogue” as an iconic dance party song. However, our pick is the love song “Crazy For You”. This song also played in two scenes in the movie Vision Quest.
#17 Queen – “You’re My Best Friend” can be played in so many scenarios during a wedding reception. Play it for parent dances, for friends, or even a first dance.
#18 Pink Floyd – We could choose “Money” for the dollar dance but many brides feel the dollar dance is asking for money. Therefore, we’ll select “Mother” for the Mother-Son dance.
#19 U2 – One of the best rock bands of all time. A great way to start the wedding festivities is “Beautiful Day”.
#20 Marvin Gaye – Marvin Gaye was one of the best male R&B artists of all time. Too bad his life ended too early. There are many songs Marvin created that are suitable for a wedding. However, our favorite is “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” sung by Gaye with Tammi Terrell.
Artists & Bands 21-40
#21 Bruce Springsteen – Also in the movie Jerry McGuire, “Secret Garden” would make a great first dance song.
#22 The Clash – On your wedding day I hope you are not deciding if you should stay or go. Rather get people on the dance floor with “Rock the Casbah”.
#23 AC/DC – One of the best songs to fill the dance floor is “You Shook Me All Night Long”. However, “Thunderstruck” makes for a great entrance song.
#24 The Velvet Underground – A great song from an American band to slow dance is “I Found A Reason”.
#25 Chuck Berry – One of the pioneers of rock music will always be remembered in “Johnny B Goode”.
#26 Neil Young – The most popular choice for a wedding song would be “Harvest Moon”. However, “Old Man” is a great song about a son growing up with a dad.
#27 Aretha Franklin – Aretha Franklin is one of the greatest female R&B artists of all time. From all of her great songs, “Respect” will fill the dance floor.
#28 Elton John – We can feel the love for Elton John and for a great first dance song and wedding song – “Your Song”.
#29 Radiohead – We will pass on “A Punchup At A Wedding” and go with “True Love Waits”.
#30 Aerosmith – “Sweet Emotion” makes for a great cake-cutting song but “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” is Aerosmith’s best love song.
#31 John Lennon – We just can’t imagine that it would be any other song than “Woman”.
#32 Black Sabbath – We really don’t have a wedding song by Black Sabbath. However, their most recognized songs are “Paranoid” and “Iron Man”.
#33 Guns ‘N’ Roses – We could easily select “November Rain” as our GNR song for weddings. However, we really like “Welcome To The Jungle” as an entrance song.
#34 Tina Turner – You could play “Better Be Good To Me” as a funny take as the bride and groom start their new life together. However, our favorite wedding song by Tina is “Simply The Best”.
#35 Johnny Cash – We’ll pass on the popular selections “I Walk The Line” and “Ring Of Fire”. It’s a coin toss between “Darlin’ Companion” sung with Emmylou Harris and the song “In My Life” originally done by the Beatles.
#36 Paul McCartney – Paul McCartney was a member of the band Wings. While with Wings, “Maybe I’m Amazed” was produced and makes a great first dance song.
#37 Fleetwood Mac – A great song for the bride and groom to dance with their parents is “Landslide”.
#38 Sly & The Family Stone – Everyone can “Dance To The Music” to this great dance song.
#39 The Kinks – The perfect song for weddings is “You Really Got Me” – literally.
#40 The Police – No, we will not select a stalking song “Every Breath You Take”. Rather our selection is “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”.
Musicians 41-60
#41 Van Halen – A great song to get people on the dance floor is “Jump”. Who could forget the video with David Lee Roth?
#42 Metallica – A friend of ours married and their first dance song was “Nothing Else Matters”.
#43 Ray Charles – If you want a closing song, “Hit The Road Jack” would fit the bill. However, we like “If I Could” as a great father-daughter dance.
#44 Joni Mitchell – One of the best Folk artists of all time. Our song selection for a wedding would be “A Case Of You”.
#45 Al Green – One of the best R&B songs is “Let’s Stay Together”.
#46 Ramones – A great love song perfect for weddings is “Baby I Love You”. It can also be used as a first dance song for punk rock song fans.
#47 Jay-Z – I hope this song counts, as it is great. Beyonce features Jay-Z in the song “Crazy In Love”.
#48 Rage Against The Machine – Not your stereotypical band to play at a wedding. Do you have any suggestions? “Bulls On Parade” would be our favorite song of theirs.
#49 Parliament-Funkadelic – Our favorite song by George Clinton is “Atomic Dog”. This song will make you want to put your grooves on the dance floor.
#50 Sade – The smooth soulful sounds of Sade are captured on many hits. However, our favorite is “By Your Side”, which can also be a great first dance song.
Next, read good wedding songs to know.
#51 Billy Joel – Billy Joel is one of the best singer/songwriters of all time. We select the love song “She’s Got A Way” which also makes a great first dance song.
#52 Beyoncé – This is an easy one on so many levels. A great wedding song for all the ladies in attendance is “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” as the bouquet toss song.
#53 Little Richard – Little Richard was a great entertainer and got people moving and shaking including the song “Good Golly, Miss Molly”.
#54 Public Enemy – We cannot come up with a Public Enemy song for weddings. However, their most prolific song is “Fight The Power”.
#55 Peter Gabriel – A great love song from the movie Say Anything is “In Your Eyes”.
#56 KISS – Beth I hear you calling and telling me that “Rock and Roll All Nite” is a great part song to fill dance floors.
#57 Iggy Pop & The Stooges – We don’t have a favorite Iggy Pop song for a wedding. Any suggestions? Iggy’s most well-known song is “Lust For Life”.
#58 Cheap Trick – Hands down one of the best pop-rock love songs is “The Flame”. However, a great song to dance to is “I Want You To Want Me”.
#59 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – We really like the song “Free Fallin'” but for a wedding, our pick is “Built To Last”.
#60 Whitney Houston – Whitney Houston is one of the greatest Pop R&B artists of all time. She has many hits but if we had to choose 1 song for a wedding we would select “Saving All My Love For You”.
Musicians 61-80
#61 Cream – Band members including Eric Clapton rock out on “Sunshine Of Your Love”.
#62 Genesis – If you’re looking for a comical dance song, we suggest “I Can’t Dance”. Otherwise, “Follow You, Follow Me” is a great wedding song.
#63 Notorious B.I.G. – Not really a wedding song but people love to dance to “Mo Money Mo Problems”.
#64 Talking Heads – If you are looking for the first dance song that is not played at every wedding and is unique to you, we suggest “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)”.
#65 The Doors – If you like the Doors, a great song to play at a wedding is “Light My Fire”. Time to set the night on FIRE!
#66 Justin Timberlake – Another great party song to fill the dance floor is “Sexyback”.
#67 Coldplay – A great alternative first song is “Green Eyes”.
#68 Otis Redding – One of our favorite classic R&B songs is “These Arms Of Mine”. This would also make a great first dance song.
#69 Tupac Shakur – “California Love” with Dr. Dre has a great beat to dance to. However, we will take “Dear Mama” as a mother-groom dance song.
#70 Def Leppard – One of the most popular songs still played to fill dance floors is “Pour Some Sugar On Me” and also as a cake-cutting song.
#71 R.E.M. – There are many great R.E.M. songs but we pick “At My Most Beautiful” which is a great love song and would make a great first dance song.
#72 Janis Joplin – One of the biggest hits of the 1970s is “Me And Bobby McGee” and makes a great sing-along song.
#73 Van Morrison – We love Van Morrison and it is a coin flip between “Brown Eyed Girl” to fill the dance floor and the love ditty “Have I Told You Lately”.
#74 The Cure – Sorry to disappoint. We will not select “Love Song” or “Just Like Heaven”, which makes great first dance songs. Rather we are hooked on “Friday I’m In Love”.
#75 Rush – This is a tough pick for us. However, in the end, we would select “Tom Sawyer” as a great bridal party entrance song.
#76 Run-DMC – The joint collaboration of Run-D.M.C and Aerosmith created a classic party hit with “Walk This Way”.
#77 Lynyrd Skynyrd – Hands down one of the best songs to get people to the dance floor during a wedding reception is “Sweet Home Alabama”. However, “Simple Man” makes for a great Mother-Son dance song.
#78 Judas Priest – Our favorite Judas Priest song is “Turbo Lover” but “Breaking The Law” might be more familiar after James and Judas Priest performed it on American Idol to get people to the dance floor with the right crowd.
#79 Eminem – Eminem is no doubt the most influential artist of the past decade. Eminem’s music style is mostly rap which may not be suitable for most weddings. However, one of our favorite Eminem songs is “When I’m Gone”, which could be a dedication from a parent to their child.
#80 Mary J. Blige – Mary is one of the best current R&B artists. We select “Family Affair” as her best wedding song to celebrate all the family members coming together at a wedding as a wedding party dance.
Music Artists 81-100
#81 ABBA – Another song still on many best party songs to fill dance floors is “Dancing Queen”.
#82 Steely Dan – Probably the most recognized song from these jazzy rockers is “Reelin’ In The Years”. This is a great song to create a group dance.
#83 Earth, Wind, and Fire – Do you remember how to get your groove on the dance floor? If not, you will with the song “September”.
#84 Curtis Mayfield – One of the best soulful first dance songs – “So In Love”.
#85 The Band – When selecting a song by The Band for a wedding. We will go with their most well-known song – “The Weight”.
#86 N.W.A. We feel there is no appropriate N.W.A. song at a wedding. However, our favorite N.W.A. song is “Straight Outta Compton”.
#87 George Michael – George gave a gift of song to Prince William and Kate Middleton. A version of Stevie Wonder’s “You and I”.
#88 Bee Gees – Still at the top of many “best-of” party song lists is “Stayin’ Alive”. Try out those old John Travolta moves.
#89 Beastie Boys – “Fight For Your Right” is still a classic party song that will fill the dance floor.
#90 Elvis Costello – There are many songs to choose from but our favorite wedding song is “She”. It can make a great first dance song.
#91 Green Day – Another one of the best ways to close out an evening at a wedding is “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)”.
#92 LL Cool J – Overruling “Mama Said Knock You Out” as a Mother-Son dance song is “I Need Love”.
#93 Pearl Jam – Maybe a little unconventional but we select the “Last Kiss” as one of the best last dance songs at a wedding reception.
#94 Mariah Carey – Mariah Carey was the queen of pop in the 2000’s so there are many songs to choose from. The song to be played at weddings for years to come is the heartfelt song “Hero”.
#95 OutKast – OutKast fills the dance floor with “The Way You Move”. However, “Hey Ya!” will bring even more guests to the floor.
#96 Journey – Journey is our personal favorite from this list to make this pick more difficult. “Faithfully” is a great first dance song. However, “Don’t Stop Believin'” fills the dance floor for our choice.
#97 Pretenders – “Forever Young” is a great song for parents dancing with their children. However, our favorite Pretenders wedding song is “I’ll Stand By You”.
#98 Depeche Mode – “Personal Jesus” is a blockbuster hit. However, for weddings, we will select “Somebody”, as this could be a great first dance song.
#100 Alicia Keys – Alicia Keys is one of the best current R&B artists. Our favorite wedding song by Alicia Keys is “No One”. This will remain on many first dance song lists and many other wedding song lists for years to come.
This is the conclusion of our favorite wedding songs by the greatest artists of all time as ranked by VH1 with our favorite wedding songs by the artists.
Let me know if you have a favorite wedding artist below in the comments!
