DJTT, you’ve helped me before, and I’m almost positive you’ll toss out the same help again.
I have a gig coming up at fairly upclass supper club (turns into more of a night club at night) here in a couple days and it pays really well, plus I’m stoked for the experience.
Problem is, they want me to played Top 40/Some Top 40 mixes. Usually I play straight house (SHM, Norman Doray, Thomas Gold, Afrojack, Avicii, splash some trance in, etc) so this will be a little bit of a switch up for me. I’m on my absolute grind trying to find good tracks to download. The crowd will be late 20’s and early 30’s. I honestly have no clue what to toss down.
I know that sounds brutal, but it’s honestly a price I can’t turn down for it not being my style or whatever. I’ve mixed Top 40 before, it was just for a younger crowd (19-25ish). I’m just wondering if there’s any advice that’d help me with a crowd a bit older.
and if you’re playing to a crowd of late 20’s and early 30’s, chances are the majority of them aren’t going to enjoy it. I’d agree if it were teens to mid twenties, but it’s not. Not sure what type of crowd your going to have, but golden era hip hop from the end of that age would probably go over well. Other than that, just search charts from that time period.
Write down a list of all the top 40 songs on each chart for the last 6 months and you should be good for the lastest stuff. If they are looking for top[ 40’s I’d play the original tracks most of the night and squeeze a few house beats to keep the flow going.
I find with top 40’s possible crowd they’d rather just hear things they know rather then remixes they have not.
The DJ in this particular party may or may be replaced by an itunes playlist.
This is up to you to play smart and jeep the room in the right mood.
i’m not sure how it is in your city but some of these artists could do well in a top 40 set. afrojack - take over control, avicii- rapture remix, and any shm song could go. some other popular house songs include martin solveig - hello, steve aoki - pursuit of happiness remix, steve aoki - warp, wolfgang gartner - illmerica.
or any afrojack song with adele vocals put on top of it (i dont know why but i feel like every dj in the world does that now)
also, most pop/top40 songs nowadays take alot from house music, so it should be easy enough mixing these songs into your set with the above music. some examples:
chris brown - beautiful people
rihanna - s&m
rihanna - only girl
lmfao - party rock anthem, shots, la la la, others
britney spears - till the world ends, hold it against me
pitbull, neyo, afrojack - give me everything
alot of stuff by far east movement
cataracs - top of the world
flo rida - club can’t handle me
pitbull - shut it down
daft punk - one more time
kid cudi vs crookers - day n night
usher - dj got us fallin in love
i square - hey sexy lady
jay sean - hit the lights
chris brown - yeah 3x
anything by kesha
taio cruz stuff
david guetta- who’s that chick
some new black eyed peas songs (i’m not a fan)
these are just off the top of my head. i’m sure you could play an entire 4 hour set off these types of songs. the basic idea is that you don’t have to learn to mix an entire new genre to play top 40. all these songs are around the same tempo and have a similar style so it shouldn’t be too hard.
top 40 remixes could do well too. some Djs with good top40 remixes include sidney samson, chuckie, dj kue. just avoid anything too progressive or trancy or anything with super long breakdowns and buildups because people get bored of that. house music is party music so dont be afraid to play it at a party!
Have you read the article that came out like two days ago on June 27? Great Ways to Discover New Music … There is another threat of recomended music with a sticky on it! The Big Thread Of Recommended Music And a few other threats that give you some cool top 40 remixes…and…also Soundcloud and Beatport are good friends too…
Am I the only one seeing the age group this guy is playing to? late 20 and early 30 somethings (for the most part) aren’t listening to pop charts and “what’s hot” in modern music. As a whole, they have more or less stopped listening to newer pop music a few years ago.
yeee, i played a few of these and yeah i pretty much did it for the money as well. haha. 90’s and early 2000’s hip hop works well. pretty much any top 40 song from that time period works. older folks usually don’t mind a lil bit of house too. real talk. using a house beat as a break while spinning top 40 often goes well together. mix it up, have fun, and don’t take yourself too seriously (you’re playing top 40!) haha.
here’s a short list playa.
pimp of the year - dru down
let me blow your mind - eve ft gwen
nothin’ - nore
love and happiness - al green ++
Here’s a remix by my boy Oh My! of Lauryn Hill’s “That Thing” that always kills it for these dinner/dance parties.
go find top 40 remixes that are banging. I mean probably don’t have to play top 40 all night, because well you will eventually run out. Play house tracks that are banging and put in a top 40 track ever 2-3 tracks, that way you are keeping people on the floor. The drunker people get the more you can play what you like, but I still always will throw in an occasional top 40 to get people going.
