From February to the majority of spring season, dancers are in the midst of competition season. A fun but also stressful season of staying up until 1:00 AM for awards when you last danced at 3:00 PM, living solely off of Starbucks and having to take a million showers because of the 50 layers of hairspray. However, the one thing all dancers dislike most is hearing the same song too many times. With competition season fast approaching, it’s time to predict the overused songs of 2026.
Die With A Smile- Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga
If you said you have never heard this song before, you’re living under a rock. This power ballad spent 18 weeks at number 1 at the Billboard Global 100. In the dance competition world, this is seen as an opportunity to use it for a dance. I see this song being used in two very specific scenarios. The first one is a duet between a male and female dancer, where they use an acoustic stripped down version of the song and they are pretending to be in love. The second option is a small group with a male and female lead where the guy lifts the girl the whole time while the other dancers are just backup dancers.
Ordinary- Alex Warren
Whether you think this song is a beautiful tribute or a boring worship ballad, Ordinary proved to be a huge hit in 2025. The competition community loves a good positive upbeat slow song contrasting the usual sad and depressing song choices for the contemporary category. Unlike the last entry, I only see one scenario for this love ballad being used. A small group entered in the junior or mini category. There are at least two big lifts during the titular chorus and a group aerial during the final chorus. The song basically choreographs itself, a quality much of Alex Warren’s discography shares.
Golden- Huntrix
Nobody could go through the summer of 2025 without hearing this shimmering hit. Coming from “K-Pop Demon Hunters,” Golden’s appearance at dance competition is inevitable considering the popularity and mass reach of the film. It will most likely be a mini trio with the girls dressed as Rumi, Mira and Zoey respectively. The girl who plays Rumi will have her iconic braid and the dance mom will absolutely hate her life trying to recreate it.
Ode to a Lost Love- Finn Ronsdorf
2025 was the year of many trends in the dance world, one of these trends being the “grieving this kind of dance trend” where ex competition dancers would post dances that had sentimental meaning to them with “Ode To A Lost Love” by Finn Ronsdorf playing in the background. Now coincidentally graduating seniors are often looking for an emotionally impactful song for their final solo. Most of the time the song is a slow ballad about moving on, enduring loss, or growing up. When the time comes for the dancer to perform many tears will shed on the stage and the dancer will most certainly get a judges award at every competition for emotional execution. This specific situation seems to fit “Ode To A Lost Love” perfectly, Ronsdorf’s spoken like vocals paired with the song’s haunting production lends itself to the tragedy that comes with leaving the dance competition world behind a feeling many senior dancers will resonate with. Comp season will officially kick off in February, so we will see if any of my predictions end up being true.
