Billboard magazine compiled the top-performing dance singles in the United States on the Hot Dance/Disco Club Play chart and the Hot Dance/Disco 12-inch Singles Sales chart.
Premiered in 1976, the Club Play chart ranked the most-played singles on dance club based on reports from a national sample of club DJs.
It was the sole chart for dance music before the issue dated March 16, 1985, when the 12-inch Singles Sales chart was launched based on retail sales of physical singles across the United States.
The first number one on the dance sales chart was "New Attitude"/"Axel F", a split single by Patti LaBelle and Harold Faltermeyer from Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack.
[1] However, Billboard had already compiled unpublished chart for the 12-inch singles sales chart since January 19, 1985, with "Rain Forest"/"Sound Chaser" by Paul Hardcastle as its first number one, which was retrospectively listed on Billboard.com.