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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Notre Dame chapter.

There are a few things that make a party great: the people, alcohol, theme and more are all contributing factors. In my personal opinion, music is what makes or breaks a party—it sets the tone for the night! Having a fire playlist on the aux is key for ensuring a good time every time. Songs played at parties can range widely depending on where you go. However, I believe there is a way to categorize the types of songs played at parties into five categories: hype, throwback, sing-along, recent, current and classic. 

The Hype Songs 

Favorites:  “No Hands,” “Buy U a Drank,” “Come Get Her,” “Look Back at It,” “Low (feat. T-Pain),” “HeadBand (feat. 2 Chainz)”

“She hit the floor (she hit the floor), next thing you know, shawty got low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low”

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Hype songs are played to get everyone at the party vibing. They have a fire beat and can spread electric energy throughout any room. Even the person who is chilling in the corner on their phone will drop everything and dance to a hype song when it comes on. These songs are perfect to dance to and you should never miss that opportunity!

The Throwback Jams

Favorites: “Baby,” “Crank That (Soulja Boy),” “679 (feat. Remy Boyz)”

“I’m like, yeah, she’s fine, wonder when she’ll be mine, she walk past, I press rewind, to see that a** one more time”

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Throwback jams spice up any party playlist. These songs can often resurface memories you didn’t even know you had. Who doesn’t love hearing a song they used to listen to on repeat in the sixth grade? These songs allow you to reminisce on your past while living it up in your present. Too many throwbacks could potentially cause people to question the music, so only throw some in every now and then.

The Sing-Along Songs

Favorites: “Fergalicious,” “Super Bass,” “Freaky Friday (feat. Chris Brown)”

“All the time I turn around brothas gather ’round always looking at me up and down looking at my (uh)”

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These songs are universal. When these come on, every single person belts out the lyrics as loud as they can. There is no feeling more satisfying than belting out all the correct lyrics for one of these tunes. 

The Current Bops

Favorites: “hot girl bummer,” “ROXANNE,” “The Box”

“Roxanne, Roxanne, all she wanna do is party all night, g******, Roxanne, never gonna love me but it’s alright”

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The best part about this category is that these songs are always changing. Depending on what’s popular currently, these songs get rotated in and out. They add true versatility to any party playlist. However, having these time-sensitive songs means that you have to keep the party playlist updated based on what’s popular now.

The Classics

Favorites: “Mr. Brightside,” “Runaway (U & I),” “All Night Longer,” “Wasted,” “Closing Time”

“Tell that bartender make that m*********** stronger, I wanna go all night longer, a couple rounds going down like water, I wanna go all night longer”

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Odds are, if you go to a party, these songs will be played. You can never go wrong with a classic. These signature jams are always crowd favorites. They’re consistent and you can count on everyone knowing them. It’s almost nostalgic when “Closing Time” plays at the end of a clearout and everyone flocks to the door. As I said earlier, music sets the vibe of a room. So, when the night’s ending, what better way to kick everyone out than by playing a song? 

 

Check out all of these songs on your next go-to party playlist!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5qrYjvcDi7EwXorjiZcQsd?si=zpwWya4KQ7KhtFynX_Yzpw

Callie King

Notre Dame '23

Callie is a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame studying electrical engineering. She is a Gemini and is from Cleveland, Ohio. Some of her hobbies include reading, discovering new music, scrolling through Tik Tok and doing anything unproductive with her friends when she should be studying. Go Irish!