@Evelyn Edworthy

At heart, contemporary electronic dance music is a euphoric dream set to a 4/4 beat. That vision finds its purest expression in trance, a sleek, streamlined style that centres emotional uplift as its raison d’etre. The genre evolved alongside techno in the late ’80s and early ’90s, with the rigid arpeggios of Belgian new beat guiding its steady groove and glistening synths. Trance largely took shape in Germany, the site of its harder-edged innovations, and Holland, home to superstars like Tiësto and Armin van Buuren, while the trippier subgenre of psytrance took root in Israel and Goa. By the ’00s, aided by the music’s versatility—equally able to absorb pop melodies or get beefed up to main-stage proportions—trance had become a proudly global concern whose soaring melodies and rolling rhythms transcend borders and language. At festivals, trance fans may wear their home countries’ flags flung over their shoulders, but their chief allegiance is to the music and its message of unity.

Throughout all the bass mutations of the 21st century, drum ’n’ bass—the high-BPM, breakbeat-driven style that evolved out of early hardcore rave and dub-influenced jungle in the ’90s—keeps going strong. The UK remains home to a vital scene that stays focused on the future without losing sight of the music’s roots. These songs stem from that tradition: deep, soulful and fluid, they’re as well-suited for listening as they are dancing. Our editors regularly refresh this playlist. If you like a track, add it to your library.

Inside electronic music's myriad scenes and subcultures, bass music occupies a world all its own—it's as much a physical experience as an aural one. Its low-end wobbles draw on some of dance music's most interesting rhythms—grime, dubstep, trap, drum 'n' bass and UK garage are a few—with DJ/producers carving out deeper, more experimental sounds to accent their woofer-flexing drops. This playlist has some of the gnarliest tracks rumbling through social media and dance tents, and it's updated weekly with the latest cuts. If you hear a tune you like, add it to your library.

Big beat—an expression of ’90s dance music at its most crowd-pleasingly boisterous—was always upfront about its intentions. Its philosophy was right there in the name: The bigger the beats, the better. Coldcut and M/A/R/R/S lay the foundation in the late ’80s, fusing acid house and turntablism with infectious hooks. By the mid ’90s, at club nights around the UK, DJs like Fatboy Slim and The Chemical Brothers were bringing ravers and rockers together under the umbrella of the eclectic new sound. Big Beat’s early incarnation joined hip-hop breaks, rock guitars and attention-grabbing vocals with a distinctly gonzo sensibility that helped entice American fans previously immune to electronic music’s allure. Long past the style’s chart-topping late-’90s heyday, its super-sized sonics helped pave the way for DFA’s dance/rock crossovers, French electro and the ’10s EDM boom. Just like the Big Bang’s gravitational waves, ripples from big beat’s collision of rave, rap, rock and pop keep spreading outward.

Here’s where you’ll find the best dance tracks making the rounds online. Just like your feed, this playlist is constantly being updated—if you hear a song you like, add it to your library.

For Isgubhu, our spotlight on Africa’s dance and electronic scenes, Kenyan Nigerian producer, engineer and music exec Afamefuna showcases the best beats from East Africa, highlighting tracks with vocals from STACY KAMATU, Labdi and Sofiya Nzau. “I chose these three Kenyan electronic tracks because they fully represent what is being avidly consumed in the Nairobi music scene at the moment,” Afamefuna tells Apple Music. “I particularly love how all three vocalists were able to effortlessly imbibe these tracks with their cultural heritage. There seems to be an undeniable energy behind the African electronic/dance movement, and I think it’s beautiful to see the amalgamation of this sound with authentically African vocals and modes of expression.” Here, you’ll also find “raindrops” (featuring Terrianne Iraki), from Afamefuna’s debut EP, <i>i.r.l</i>, along with more from the continent’s biggest stars. Hear something you like? Add it to your library.

Get ready for a summer you’ll never forget. Ibiza’s clubs are opening, and we’ve got the soundtrack to every sunset, every night that will live forever and every euphoric moment the White Isle has to offer. These, our editors predict, are the tracks set to blow up as Ibiza 2024 kicks off. If you hear or recognise something you love, add it to your library—we’ll be updating the playlist as the season heats up.

Pride may look a little different this year, but it won’t stop the world celebrating queer communities and their stories. And this euphoric playlist is designed to get those celebrations jumping. We’ll enjoy these tracks responsibly right now, and look be looking forward to hearing them in their rightful setting very soon: pumped at full volume at Pride parades across the globe.

Calvin Harris's production work is as varied as his solo catalogue—from remixing indie-dance adventurers Passion Pit to his floor-filling pop smashes with Rihanna. It all has one thing in common though: Harris' ultra-vivid synths, rife with 8-bit bleeps, sawtooth leads and shimmering pads, which bubble and sparkle like geysers spouting pure champagne—the expensive stuff, too.