The EDM Boom

Back in February, 2012 the Blog did an article about the rise of Electronic Dance Music (link) and gave credit to these artists as fueling that rise. It's fascinating to look back at it 6 years later and see how accurate the assessment was. And given the sad news that DJ Avicii passed-away this past Friday, I thought I would recap these 3 songs as defining moments in EDM history:


In 2009 DJ David Guetta (F) collaborated with Hip Hop singer Kelly Rowland (USA) and appeared in the music video as himself in "When Love Takes Over".  It took the world by storm and brought attention to this "new sound" that took on the name "Dance" or "EDM".


In 2009/2010, a group known for Hip Hop had 2 songs back-to-back that dominated the No. 1 position on the Billboard's Hot 100 chart for an unprecedented 26 weeks. Black-Eyed Peas (USA)  "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Got A Feeling".  EDM was rolling!


In 2012, a here-to fore unknown DJ who went by the name Avicii (S) had this memorizing hit "Levels" that was mostly instrumental but included a short vocal sample from historic Soul/Blues singer Etta James (USA). It blew up the popular music world and cemented EDM's place in the music history of the United States. A rising tide lifts all boats and it helped so many electronic music genres to reach new levels of popularity.