Dancing remains a collective enterprise, but the most exciting developments in electronic music this year tended to arise from deeply original and idiosyncratic visions. Ambient went globe-trotting, electro-pop turned liberationist, and footwork got completely retooled. Even reggaeton and dancehall proved fodder for slyly experimental treatments, while house and techno, those old standbys, were most exciting when they seemed closest to morphing into other, less recognizable sounds. It was a year in which there seemed to be little consensus about the way forward—but in spite of that, or maybe because of it, the margins were alive with creativity.

Listen to selections from this list on our Spotify and Apple Music playlists.