Electronic dance music (EDM) is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and festivals. It encompasses styles ranging from beatless ambient music to 200-beats-per-minute hardcore, with house music, techno, drum and bass, dubstep, and trance among the most notable examples. EDM is created specifically for the social function of dancing all night, and a strong emphasis on rhythm is therefore common to most styles of EDM. Ambient music, which is less focused on maintaining a beat, provides an aural cushion for settling down at the end of the night.

EDM is generally produced for playback by DJs who create seamless selections of tracks, called a mix, by segueing from one recording to another. The music is created with electronic instrumentation that is designed for dancing and grooving to. The term "EDM" was being pushed by the American music industry and music press in an effort to rebrand American rave culture. In the UK, "dance music" or "dance" are more common terms for EDM.

EDM has existed in some form since at least the early 1970s, but the electronic dance music that would become a global culture was hatched in the American Midwest through the early 1980s. In the new millennium, the popularity of EDM increased globally, particularly in the United States and Australia. In 2011, Spin declared a "new rave generation" led by acts like David Guetta, Deadmau5, and Skrillex. According to Eventbrite, EDM fans are more likely to use social media to discover and share events or gigs.