Disco drum patterns.

1. 1970s

   1. 1971
      

      Landmark

      Theme from Shaft

      Isaac Hayes

      Root: Willie Hall's constant 16th-note hi-hat, taken from a Stax break; counted among the first disco singles
   2. 1972
      

      Landmark

      Love Train

      The O'Jays

      Philadelphia's MFSB rhythm section; called one of the first disco songs and MFSB's first Hot 100 No. 1
   3. 1975
      

      Get Down Tonight

      KC and the Sunshine Band

      TK Records' Miami sound: fast tempo, a steady dance beat and a repeated hook; the band's first No. 1
   4. 1975
      

      Jive Talkin'

      Bee Gees

      Arif Mardin steered the Bee Gees toward R&B grooves; Dennis Bryon's chugging beat began their disco era
   5. 1976
      

      Disco Inferno

      The Trammps

      Earl Young, MFSB's drummer and the Trammps' bass voice, plays the hi-hat-heavy Philly disco beat he helped shape
   6. 1976
      

      Don't Leave Me This Way

      Thelma Houston

      James Gadson locks a four-on-the-floor kick to the bass, turning a Philly ballad into a Motown disco No. 1
   7. 1977
      

      Shame

      Evelyn "Champagne" King

      Scotty Miller's drums; the extended 12-inch remix rearranged them to push the beat harder for clubs
   8. 1977
      

      Supernature

      Cerrone

      Drummer-producer Cerrone fuses synths with a kick-forward Euro disco beat; the album even had a drum-solo track
   9. 1977
      

      Landmark

      Stayin' Alive

      Bee Gees

      With the drummer away, two bars of Night Fever's drums were tape-looped: a played beat used like a drum machine
   10. 1978
       

       You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)

       Sylvester

       Patrick Cowley rebuilt a gospel tune as synth disco after I Feel Love; a step toward hi-NRG
   11. 1978
       

       I Will Survive

       Gloria Gaynor

       James Gadson's steady four-on-the-floor under Gloria Gaynor: the textbook disco drum pattern
   12. 1979
       

       Landmark

       Good Times

       Chic

       Tony Thompson and Bernard Edwards's tight, syncopated groove; its bassline became Rapper's Delight
   13. 1979
       

       Hot Stuff

       Donna Summer

       Rock-disco hybrid: power-chord guitar over the disco pulse, winning the first Grammy for female rock vocal
   14. 1979
       

       Landmark

       Ring My Bell

       Anita Ward

       A Synare electronic drum's falling tom on beat one of every bar is the hook: electronic drums as disco's signature

2. 1980s

   1. 1980
      

      Funkytown

      Lipps Inc.

      Late-disco No. 1 built from synthetic sounds and a vocoder, pointing toward 80s synth-pop
   2. 1980
      

      I'm Coming Out

      Diana Ross

      Written and produced by Chic's Rodgers and Edwards, carrying their crisp late-disco groove to Motown

3. 2020s

   1. 2022
      

      Free Yourself

      Jessie Ware

      Stuart Price's drums under diva-house piano stabs: the 2020s disco revival in club form

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