Electronic drum patterns.

1. 1980s

   1. 1981
      

      Electronic

      Numbers

      Kraftwerk

      Syncopated machine beat that Arthur Baker had programmed into a TR-808 for Planet Rock; the seed of the electro drum pattern
   2. 1982
      

      Electronic

      Planet Rock

      Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force

      Hired TR-808 programmed with the Numbers beat; made the 808 the core of electro and early hip hop drums
   3. 1984
      

      House

      On and On

      Jesse Saunders

      Bare TR-808 track recorded in 1983; frequently cited as the first house record released on vinyl
   4. 1985
      

      Electronic

      No UFO's

      Model 500

      Juan Atkins' drum-machine funk with less song structure than Cybotron; often named one of the earliest techno tracks
   5. 1986
      

      House

      Move Your Body

      Marshall Jefferson

      Driving Chicago drum track under the first prominent house piano; its groove and chords were imitated for decades
   6. 1986
      

      House

      Can You Feel It

      Mr. Fingers

      Larry Heard's unhurried drum-machine groove under lush chords; one of the first deep house records
   7. 1987
      

      Electronic

      Strings of Life

      Rhythim Is Rhythim (Derrick May)

      Syncopated machine drums under sampled piano and strings; Detroit techno's signature anthem, also claimed by house
   8. 1987
      

      House

      Acid Tracks

      Phuture

      Squelching TB-303 line over a long, hypnotic drum-machine loop; the record that defined acid house

2. 1990s

   1. 1993
      

      Electronic

      Spastik

      Plastikman

      Nine minutes of almost nothing but drum-machine percussion, building to heavy kicks; a minimal techno touchstone
   2. 1995
      

      UK garage

      Never Gonna Let You Go (Kelly G Bump-N-Go Vocal Mix)

      Tina Moore

      Kelly G's mix skips kicks for a syncopated, bumping beat; often credited as the first 2-step record, a UK No. 7 in 1997
   3. 1996
      

      UK garage

      Sugar Is Sweeter (Armand Van Helden's Drum 'n' Bass Mix)

      CJ Bolland

      Van Helden set a 4x4 kick under breakbeat-style snares and a jungle bass; called by some the first true speed garage track
   4. 1998
      

      House

      Music Sounds Better with You

      Stardust

      TR-909 beat under a filtered Chaka Khan guitar loop; the filter-house blueprint of the French touch era
   5. 1998
      

      UK garage

      Stone Cold

      Groove Chronicles

      El-B's crew pulled the kicks off the grid under swung hats and heavy sub: the breakthrough record for darker, deeper 2-step
   6. 1999
      

      UK garage

      Re-Rewind

      Artful Dodger ft. Craig David

      2-step beat with rewind effects and an R&B vocal; a UK No. 2 that carried the skipping garage shuffle into the pop charts

3. 2000s

   1. 2001
      

      Dubstep

      Fist of Fury

      Horsepower Productions

      Tempa 12" of stripped, dubbed-out garage: sparse broken drums over deep sub; Horsepower are credited with dubstep's birth
   2. 2004
      

      Dubstep

      Horror Show

      Loefah

      DMZ's second release: a kick and a heavy snare on beat three with wide space around them; the minimal half-step template
   3. 2005
      

      Dubstep

      Midnight Request Line

      Skream

      Skippy, syncopated drums under a looping melodic riff; credited as dubstep's most recognisable crossover hit
   4. 2006
      

      Dubstep

      Anti War Dub

      Mala (Digital Mystikz)

      Half-time roller: sparse kick, snare on the three and tribal-style drum samples; a cornerstone of the DMZ sound
   5. 2007
      

      UK garage

      Heartbroken

      T2 ft. Jodie Aysha

      Bassline: a straight four-to-the-floor kick under a warped, wobbling bass; the UK No. 2 that took the Yorkshire sound national

4. 2010s

   1. 2010
      

      Dubstep

      Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites

      Skrillex

      Half-time drops with abrasive mid-range bass and rapid edits; Dazed credited the EP with launching brostep

Press play to loop each record's busiest two bars. Patterns are machine-detected from the recordings, not verified transcriptions.