# The 10 Best Disco Tracks of All Time Funk rebuilt for a room where the record never stops. A four-on-the-floor kick, strings, and an extended arrangement designed for a DJ rather than for radio — the first popular music written for the mix. - **Origin:** New York City, 1974 - **Tempo:** 110–130 BPM - **Also known as:** four on the floor, philly soul, garage disco - **Tracks:** 10 - **Updated:** 2026-08-29 - **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/ ## Curators on Disco - [The Waxonia Desk](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-desk/): 5 picks. Five records whose lives were decided in a booth rather than on radio — a closing ritual, a flop rescued by a mix, the first commercial twelve-inch, and a record a London sound system took its name from. ## The list ### 1. [Donna Summer](https://waxonia.com/artist/donna-summer/) — [I Feel Love](https://waxonia.com/track/donna-summer--i-feel-love/) *1977 · Casablanca* Giorgio Moroder replaces the band with a Moog sequencer and Summer sings over the top as though nothing unusual is happening. Brian Eno called it the future, correctly, and it is still arriving. Also on: [Roots](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Donna%20Summer%20I%20Feel%20Love) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=yEbaeLv-aOo) ### 2. [MFSB](https://waxonia.com/artist/mfsb/) — [Love Is the Message](https://waxonia.com/track/mfsb--love-is-the-message/) *1973 · Philadelphia International* The house band of Philadelphia soul cut the record that became the closing ritual of the Paradise Garage. Not a song so much as a structure DJs spent a decade learning to use. Also on: [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/), [The Waxonia Desk — What the DJs Kept](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-what-the-djs-kept/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/MFSB%20Love%20Is%20the%20Message) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7b1umcmfaXY) ### 3. [Chic](https://waxonia.com/artist/chic/) — [Good Times](https://waxonia.com/track/chic--good-times/) *1979 · Atlantic* Bernard Edwards plays the bassline that hip-hop, post-punk and pop all borrowed within eighteen months. Nile Rodgers leaves so much space in the guitar part that other people's records fit inside it. Also on: [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/), [The Waxonia Desk — What the DJs Kept](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-what-the-djs-kept/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Chic%20Good%20Times) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=iGKQapswGaY) ### 4. [Diana Ross](https://waxonia.com/artist/diana-ross/) — [Love Hangover](https://waxonia.com/track/diana-ross--love-hangover/) *1976 · Motown* Starts as a slow burn and doubles its tempo halfway through, which no pop single had any business doing. A Motown legend audibly enjoying the fact that the rules had changed. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Diana%20Ross%20Love%20Hangover) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9-7rcKxIc8) ### 5. [Double Exposure](https://waxonia.com/artist/double-exposure/) — [Ten Percent](https://waxonia.com/track/double-exposure--ten-percent/) *1976 · Salsoul* Walter Gibbons's remix was the first commercially released twelve-inch single, and it invented the job. Everything a remixer does — extend, strip, delay the payoff — is already fully formed here. Also on: [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/), [The Waxonia Desk — What the DJs Kept](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-what-the-djs-kept/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Double%20Exposure%20Ten%20Percent) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rP0EPsS3OdQ) ### 6. [First Choice](https://waxonia.com/artist/first-choice/) — [Doctor Love](https://waxonia.com/track/first-choice--doctor-love/) *1977 · Gold Mind* Philadelphia grandeur with an unusually mean bassline. Chicago producers sampled it so relentlessly through the eighties that it functions as a founding text for house as much as for disco. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/First%20Choice%20Doctor%20Love) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=q2RSniyYNSc) ### 7. [Loose Joints](https://waxonia.com/artist/loose-joints/) — [Is It All Over My Face](https://waxonia.com/track/loose-joints--is-it-all-over-my-face/) *1980 · West End* Arthur Russell's downtown art project, rescued by a Larry Levan mix that turns a shambles into a groove. The record where disco stops being glossy and starts being strange, which is exactly where house picks it up. Also on: [The Waxonia Desk — In the Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/), [The Waxonia Desk — What the DJs Kept](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-what-the-djs-kept/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Loose%20Joints%20Is%20It%20All%20Over%20My%20Face) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hn27RiqRj7s) ### 8. [Love Unlimited Orchestra](https://waxonia.com/artist/love-unlimited-orchestra/) — [Love's Theme](https://waxonia.com/track/love-unlimited-orchestra--loves-theme/) *1973 · 20th Century* An instrumental of wah-wah guitar and forty strings that went to number one in America. Barry White proved a dance record needed no vocal, no hook and no chorus — only an arrangement. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Love%20Unlimited%20Orchestra%20Love's%20Theme) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=5blygUa_Uxg) ### 9. [Thelma Houston](https://waxonia.com/artist/thelma-houston/) — [Don't Leave Me This Way](https://waxonia.com/track/thelma-houston--dont-leave-me-this-way/) *1976 · Tamla* The greatest vocal performance in the genre, delivered against an arrangement that keeps withholding the release. Houston sounds like she is negotiating rather than pleading. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Thelma%20Houston%20Don't%20Leave%20Me%20This%20Way) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rUdw7V-FC_Q) ### 10. [Labelle](https://waxonia.com/artist/labelle/) — [Lady Marmalade](https://waxonia.com/track/labelle--lady-marmalade/) *1974 · Epic* New Orleans funk, a Broadway-scale vocal and a lyric that got it banned in several places. Disco at its most confrontational, and a reminder that the genre's politics were never incidental to it. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Labelle%20Lady%20Marmalade) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ku7W0BZcxdw) --- Hand-curated by Waxonia. We host no audio; all links point to streaming platforms.