Olivia Newton-John may the advocate of all things physical, but when it comes to all things tropical, it’s pretty hard to figure who runs the club of this deep house subgenre. Is it Aussie producer Thomas Jack, who coined the term “tropical house” as a joke, but since then released a dozen of tropical mixes volumes? Is it '90s trance guru Dario G, whose “Sunchyme” is considered the original tropical hit? Or is it Kygo, who exposed the mainstream public to the the lovely union of marimba, pan flute and synthesizers and who’s about to drop his debut LP Cloud Nine on May 13^th?

Check out our tropical must-have’s playlist and decide for yourself. Or simply put your sunglasses on and your work on and enjoy the most aurally pleasing trend in the recent dance music era.

Dario G – "Sunchyme" (1997)

Just like most of the things we enjoy these days, tropical house was first heard back in the '90s, although nobody was calling it that back then. The original tropical banger came out in 1997 from English house/trance producer Dario G and was accompanied by something we can only call a live-action The Lion King remake. Dario’s still got music as proven by his 2014 collaboration with Dame Shirley Bassey that was called, you guessed it, “We Got Music”.

OMI – "Cheerleader" (Felix Jaehn Remix) (2014)

Did we ever see a better Jamaican/German union? The collaboration between Jamaican-born singer OMI and German deep house producer Felix Jaehn made us want to chant “More! More! More!” Bring It On-style. The original version of the song came out in 2012 but only got big with the arrival of the remix in 2015, which proves that you always need a DJ at your local tiki bar.

Mr. Probz – "Waves" (Robin Shultz Remix) (2014)

A perfect tropical house banger can’t just have the laid-back melody and some conventional tropical instruments. The beach theme should be written all over its lyrics and visuals, too, which makes this collaboration between Dutch singer Mr Probz and German producer Robin Shultz a tropical house how-to guide. No wonder everyone wanted to have a slice of that sun-lit beach fantasy, with both T.I. and Chris Brown showing up for a remix back in 2014.

Lost Frequencies – "Are You With Me" (2014)

A total Frankenstein’s monster of a hit was sewed together from completely different genres when Belgian producer Lost Frequencies decided to give a deep house rework to the Nashville-based country singer Easton Corbin’s guitar ballad. It's more folktronic than tropical, to be honest, but has the nighttime-at-the-beach vibe, that could be considered a logical extension of the tropical genre. The remix became a worldwide hit, because, let’s face it, everyone can relate to the lyrics “I wanna dance by water 'neath the Mexican sky, drink some Margaritas by a string of blue lights." We’re totally with you, Easton.

Kygo – Firestone (2015)

This Norwegian DJ is a rare example of playing with fire gone good. He got his initial break by casting the palm tree shadow beats all over Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire” and then released the ultimate tropical house blockbuster “Firestone” that turned the world into one massive beach party in the spring of 2015. Then came “Stole the show,” “Here for You” and “Stay,” and on May 13 Kygo’s finally releasing his debut album Cloud Nine. It leaves you just enough time to ask your boss for vacation and head to the nearest beach town, holding this CD and some sun screen.

Jack Ü ft. Justin Bieber – "Where Are Ü Now" (2015)

The biggest test any music genre needs to pass these days is the approval of teen-pleasing acts. If it sounds good coming from Selena, Demi, Miley or Justin’s mouth, then it’s a go. And judging by the enormous success of this Skrillex-meets-Diplo-meets-Bieber collective effort, by the spring of 2015 the world was ready for the tropical takeover. And the tropics were here to stay.

Matoma & Notorious B.I.G. ft. Ja Rule & Ralph Tresvant – "Old Thing Back" (2015)

It’s hard to believe that most of this feel-good sun-soaked music comes from Scandinavia, right? But with a string of successful Coachella gigs and a bunch of hit releases under his belt, Norwegian producer Matoma is one of the brightest stars on the tropical house scene. And rightfully so: his idea of taking a 1997 Notorious B.I.G. tune “Want That Old Thing Back” and turning it into a polished (yet still explicit) 2015 club banger was the one for the DJ books. Anyone can lend us a boombox so we can blast this monster of a tune on the streets?  

Mike Posner – "I Took A Pill In Ibiza" (SeeB Remix) (2015)

Just a year ago it seemed like everything in the charts was indeed cooler than Mike Posner. But in a shocking turn of events, his acoustic ballad about the struggles of being a one hit wonder was updated by the Norwegian duo SeeB and, well, made him cool again. There’s something incredibly ironic about the song that’s making fun of the club culture becoming one of the main club hits all over the world. What kind of pill did Mike slip us exactly?!