The 15 Biggest Dance Music Stories of 2024

2024 breakout producer salute perhaps said it best in July, when they observed that “There’s so much happening in all corners of dance music, and I think we’re back in low-level golden era without realizing it.”

Certainly many people in the dance would would agree — but maybe not everyone. Some might say it’s become stale, with remixes and mashups of classic tracks that don’t necessarily always need to be remixed or mashed, and unsustainable as any artists struggle to make a living while others pull massive paychecks. Techno hero Richie Hawtin remarked on “perhaps the biggest disappointment that I felt in our community, our scene since I’ve been part of it” after the September closure of Aslice, which had been designed to let DJs to voluntarily share their set playlists and contribute part of their performance fee to the artists whose music they played.

Meanwhile Deadmau5 threatened to take his music off Spotify (although didn’t) after the company’s CEO Daniel Ek remarked that the cost of creating content is “close to zero.” “The cost of creating content was 25+ years of my life and much of those proceeds going to your company you complete f–king idiot,” the producer responded.

But fret not, dear dancer. There has been more to celebrate than sour over this year. Thanks to a deliciously strange Netflix film, we’ve danced to some classic bangers all over again. We’ve swooned at legends returning with sensational albums and live sets to match, and we’ve watched in awe as Charli XCX took club culture to the world — even bumpin’ that on Saturday Night Live — with Brat.

Of course, it wasn’t all confetti bursts. We’ve mourned and celebrated the life of some of our most beloved artists, too. SOPHIE’s posthumous album was as beautiful as we’d hoped, and tributes for the late Jackmaster brought the dance world together in a moment of communal mourning.

Before we welcome in 2025, these were the dance music stories that defined 2024, in chronological order.