From the Author: I live in Southern California and have been country dancing for over 7 years. I have spent countless nights out both line dancing and partner dancing and have traveled around to see firsthand almost all the places on my list. Please comment below! I generally respond quickly!
In September 2021, Ed Sheeran released another great song called “Shivers.” In the line dancing world, Ed Sheeran’s songs have been greatly loved and often grabbed by choreographers for their next new dance. Shivers would be the most thus far! Check out the 3-page list of dances to Shivers on Copperknob here.
Possibly the first choreographer to notice Shivers and give us a dance was great choreographer Julia Wetzel! I was lucky to learn Julia’s new dance with some friends from Julia Wetzel herself! It was a high intermediate dance. But soon, I became aware of another choreographed line dance that almost had the same name–so confusing!
While an improver level line dance, it was considerably easier to learn and started taking off in the bars. Over the next two years, this dance has only grown and continued to dominate line dancing in the country bar scene–while not even being a country song! Why is this, and is there any end in sight for the popularity of this dance?
I think it might be impossible to know if it is the most popular and most danced line dance, but here is at least some information about the dance and its popularity and a comparison to some other dances out there that also are in contention for the most popular dance. But I do think it is safe to say:
The line dance Gives Me Shivers choreographed by Brandon Zahorsky is one of the most popular line dances, both domestically and internationally. Line dancers enjoy dancing Gives Me Shivers at local country bars all over the country every weekend.
Table of Contents
Gives Me Shivers Compared In Popular Ranking Chart Sites
Gives Me Shivers–The Dance Details
Gives Me Shivers–A Crystal Boot Nomination!
Gives Me Shivers–Tutorials & Demos
YouTube Channels and Popular Line Dance Views
Other Popular Line Dances, 2023
Gives Me Shivers Compared In Popular Ranking Chart Sites
Copperknob’s Ranking of Gives Me Shivers
In the world of line dancing, to see what’s new, the go-to website is Copperknob.co.uk. At the time of this article’s publishing, Copperknob has over 139,000 line dance step sheets, with more being added daily. The site has a great feature to show us the current ranking of what is hot and popular. Copperknob’s Top 10 & Top 99 is a running average or snapshot of the last seven days. One thing we don’t know is where the views are coming from. Is it primarily people in the UK or are people from around the world well represented?
Line dances rise in popularity when they first come out, but then fall off quickly over the weeks and months after being replaced by what is new. Views determine the ranking. In the last seven days, how many times have people searched for and clicked to view the step sheet page for a given dance?
What is interesting to note about Gives Me Shivers, is that even though it’s aging a bit now (2021) it has remained on this list of top 99 dances. It is still getting viewed long after its premiere.
In September of 2022, its rank was #50, then in April 2023, it was at #60. It is falling off a little on views, but is still on the list! Another feature Copperknob gives us is an opportunity to vote for and rate a dance. Not everyone bothers to do this, but that also gives an indication of a dance’s popularity. Gives Me Shivers has received 368 votes and has a 5-star rating, which on average is very high.
Lindancerweb’s Ranking of Gives Me Shivers
Another vital website that is a repository and catalog of line dance choreography is linedancerweb.com. While both of these websites are based in the UK, this one feels more like a United Kingdom opinion, so let’s see what they say about things!
The main way the ranking works on linedancerweb.com is very different. For this site, the order is determined by votes. While votes don’t affect the Copperknob ranking, for linedancerweb.com that is entirely what it is based on.
In addition to the chart being sorted by votes, it is also for the last 31 days! I like that aspect since it takes a larger current sampling over time. But, there is also an option for seeing the chart based on views like Copperknob has. I don’t know if it is also for the last 31 days, and oddly enough it doesn’t say how many views. It just gives a different order. The ranking also shows a longer list than Copperknob, including the top 346 dances! In the “Main Chart” (vote generated), dances share rank numbers if they have the same amount.
While linedancerweb.com is a very well-known site, it does seem mainly visited by UK and European folks as the votes, are mainly from the United Kingdom and Europe: about 70% and 95% respectively! Folks visiting the site and voting from the United States and Canada are just 4%, with the rest of the world at about 1%! See the attached for an idea of who is voting on linedancerweb.com
But all that being said, the takeaway for this article is that Gives Me Shivers, from US-based Brandon Zahorsky, is still riding high in the list at #39! So, like in the Copperknob ranking, much love is still being shown for this dance! But moving on, let’s get into what makes Gives Me Shivers so popular!
Gives Me Shivers–The Dance Details
| Count: 32 | Wall: 4 | Level: Improver | Videos on Copperknob: 107 (78 Demo/29 Teach) |
Choreographer: Brandon Zahorsky (USA) – October 2021
Music: Shivers by Ed Sheeran
Step Sheet: Click here to download.
The Gives Me Shivers line dance I believe is super popular, first because of the great song. The pop song from Ed Sheeran is fun and makes you want to get up and dance when you hear it. And, since it’s a pop song it is inclusive of the non-country music crowd as well. But the line dance from Brandon Zahorsky is also at the perfect level of difficulty. It’s not too easy, not too hard.
At an improver level, it has enough interesting and challenging steps to make it enjoyable to a large demographic of dancers at local country bars. The experienced dancers still find it fun, the beginner dancers see it as accessible to them and a fun challenge.
One thing super fun and exciting about the dance is the transition between the 4 walls. At the end of the dance, the last 4 counts turn us to the next wall, but how you get there is a little different each time. There’s a suggested rotation with the step sheet. For the wall transitions there are some suggested variations to keep in mind and add in as you do the dance.
Three ways to turn: a regular 1/4 turn vine, a rolling vine with 1/4 turn, and a 1/4 turn with hopping. But six of the sections add in a shimmy for the times in the lyrics we hear “shivers.” Here’s all that spelled out for each wall:
Suggested Rotation – Last 4 counts of dance
Wall 1 – Regular 1/4 turn vine
Wall 2 – Rolling Vine with 1/4 turn
Wall 3 – Hop section
Wall 4 – Hop Section with Shimmy (Shivers)
Wall 5 – Hop Section with Shimmy (Shivers)
Wall 6 – Regular 1/4 turn vine
Wall 7 – Rolling Vine with 1/4 turn
Wall 8 – Hop section
Wall 9 – Hop Section with Shimmy (Shivers)
Wall 10 – Hop Section with Shimmy (Shivers)
Wall 11 – Rolling Vine with 1/4 turn
Wall 12 – Hop section
Wall 13 – Hop Section with Shimmy (Shivers)
Wall 14 – Hop Section with Shimmy (Shivers)
My takeaway from this is that you can make the dance what you want! I don’t know if many people follow this very strictly. I like to spin and do the rolling vine, almost every time. I’m not a fan of hopping in line dance, so I avoid that. But there it is! If you want a challenge memorize this and dance Gives Me Shivers technically accurate the next time you go dancing! And watch to see who knows all the right ways to turn and when!
Below are several great videos showing people dancing Gives Me Shivers. Starting with Brandon Zahorsky himself leading a great group of dancers. This is a clear demo of all the ways he wants us to do the transition to the different walls.
Gives Me Shivers–A Crystal Boot Nomination!
Another great nod to a great dance is always going to be if it is nominated in the annual Crystal Boot Awards show in Blackpool, England. Earlier in the year, Gives Me Shivers did indeed receive a nomination for a Crystal Boot Award.
The category was Improver Dance of the Year. The Crystal Boot Award ended up going to Cold Heart, Maddison Glover’s dance to the great Elton John/Dua Lipa collaboration and remix. But what a great thing to be nominated and have your dance amongst the best for the year!
Brandon Zahorsky also was nominated for the category of Rising Star! What a great year 2021 was for him! This category ended up being won by Chris Godden and Mark Furnell, who have been collaborating for quite some time. To check out what they’ve been up to, click over to my recent post on Copperknob’s Top 10/99 dances!
Gives Me Shivers–Tutorials & Demos
When you search YouTube or just look at the Copperknob stepsheet page for videos, there’s a lot to choose from. I haven’t tried all of them of course, but here’s a couple I did look at and can vouch for as being good tutorials for the dance.
Beginning with a couple of people in Southern California that I think are “go-to” teachers for their great YouTube channels: Candy Sherwin & Philip Victor of “Bootscootin'” and then also one other great very wonderful teacher from the channel Dancezing and lastly, the dance being taught in a country bar setting from DJ JohnPaul at the RoundUp Night Club in Davies, FL. Check these out! And if you watch the 4th one, you’ll hear DJ JohnPaul tell everyone: “If anybody’s wondering, this is the most popular dance in America right now–it is!“
Note: If local to So Cal check out what Candy Sherwin is doing in her locale as well as other great line dance teachers! Best Line Dance Classes–Instructors & Locations of So Cal!
Here’s a couple more fun demos of the dance! A typical bar scene when Shivers comes on (this shows Cowboys in Orlando) and also the dance happening right in the middle of Broadway Street in downtown Nashville, with the Urban Cowboy Line Dancers!
@cowgurlemmie oh i love it when you do it like that #shivers #edsheeran #shiverslinedance #cowboysorlando #linedance ♬ Shivers – Ed Sheeran
@urbancowboylinedancing #shivers #shiverslinedance #linedance #linedancing #fyp #foryoupage #viral #broadwaynashville @jasonaldeanmusic @lukebryan @lukes32bridge ♬ Shivers – Ed Sheeran
YouTube Channels and Popular Line Dance Views
Like DJ JohnPaul in Florida, I really believe Gives Me Shivers is the most popular line dance in America still, but it’s hard to know for sure! I mainly think that because of how I’ve seen it danced wherever I dance and how the floor fills up when it is called, it has to be. There seems to be great energy to do the dance and have fun with it, and new people are anxious to get involved and learn it. It’s just an eyeball test really.
But maybe there are other ways to know! One way is to look at popular line dance YouTube channels and see what is getting the most views. I’m sure I don’t know all the channels, but I checked this out with some that I do know.
Here are six popular YouTube channels and what their top 12 or more dances are. While their demo or teach of Gives Me Shivers may not be at the top, what is revealing is that the ones with more views have been live for typically far longer! I seldom noticed a video at just 1 year old ahead of it in views! I think the main new dance I see really competing is Cold Heart! And, for sure, we all love us some Cold Heart when line dancing lately!
YouTube Channels:
The Boot Scootin’ YouTube Channel
Philip is dancing in the San Diego area and dancers in So Cal love Philip! I think from the views he’s getting on his channel, it’s safe to say Shivers is a lock for the most popular dance in So Cal.
To visit Philip’s channel click here!
Dirt Road Dancing’s YouTube Channel
This was the biggest channel I found at 110K subscribers! Dirt Road Dancing (based in Idaho) has a very popular channel! Their two videos for Gives Me Shivers account for more than 1 Million views! Other more popular dances are older!
To visit their channel click here!
Grace David’s YouTube Channel
Grace David, from Korea, is a very accomplished line dance choreographer, who also has a very big YouTube channel where she posts videos of not just her own dances, but other popular dances as well. I think it is safe to say her dances are going to be more about circuit line dances and tied to events and workshops around the world, but as you can see below, Gives Me Shivers, as more of a bar dance, is holding its own at the top spot in her channel for dances less than 2 years old!
To visit her channel click here!
Candy Sherwin’s YouTube Channel
Candy Sherwin has a great YouTube channel and is one of my all-time favorite line dance instructors. She does a great job teaching at a good pace to help you really get the dance. Candy Sherwin is actually the person that I learned Gives Me Shivers from a couple of years ago, but at an actual event in person!
To visit Candy’s channel click here!
The Dancezing YouTube Channel
The Dancezing channel is based out of the UK, which I think gives us a little glimpse of what our UK fellow line dancers are interested in. Here’s where I saw that Shivers definitely has some competition in Maddison Glover’s dance Cold Heart, which has 96K views on the Dancezing channel!
To visit the channel click here!
The Linedancekelowna YouTube Channel
Lastly, here is a fairly popular channel based in Kelowna, Canada with a good amount of subscribers and viewers. This is another instance where it looks like Gives Me Shivers does have some competition! Cold Heart again at #1 and at #2, a dance also from Maddison Glover: Storm and Stone!
To visit the channel click here!
Other Popular Line Dances, 2023
Finally, I wanted to think about what other dances might be considered as contenders for this top spot. Of course, there’s always going to be the more well-known to the general public basic line dances like the Electric Slide, the Cupid Shuffle, and the Cha Cha Slide. Maybe on any given day, more people are actually doing those dances if you could tally it. But this is really about the country dance halls where line dancing is happening on a regular basis.
For other dances, three come to mind! As already mentioned, I think there is a lot of love for the dance Cold Heart. That one is holding a place in the Copperknob Top 99 along with Gives Me Shivers. Two other really well know dances that I think are worth mentioning is the staple dance Lonely Drum and then another new dance on the scene: Honky Tonk Way.
As I mentioned before, this is really just an eyeball test that I’m doing. Those 3 dances seem to really dominate and persist right now as three of the top dances that are called every night. Here are some details about them!
Cold Heart
| Count: 32 | Wall: 4 | Level: Improver | Videos on Copperknob: 162 |
Choreographer: Maddison Glover, Australia – (August 2021)
Music: “Cold Heart” (PNAU Remix) – Elton John & Dua Lipa
Step Sheet: Click here to download
I think the success of Cold Heart as a line dance is just the perfect combination of a great song that everyone loves and great choreography from one of the best in the business. I think the song resonates partly because of how it’s a mixture of great old-school Elton John songs many of us grew up with, but freshly blended together in a great remix.
The dance itself is super addictive and flows so well. Above is Maddison Glover’s tutorial for it if you still need to learn it!
Lonely Drum
| Count: 32 | Wall: 4 | Tags: 1 | Level: Improver | Videos on Copperknob: 169 |
Choreographer: Darren Mitchell (AUS) – June 2017
Music: Lonely Drum by Aaron Goodvin
Step Sheet: Click here to download
I think if you’ve been line dancing for any length of time, you’ve for sure encountered Lonely Drum. I think one moment when I realized how much love there was for it was when the dancers in one of the ballrooms at the Vegas Dance Explosion were all doing it.
Maybe it’s just another staple bar dance, but it seems to perhaps be edging many others out in popularity. But what do you think? What would be your top 5 line dances? I’d love to know.
Honky Tonk Way
| Count: 32 | Wall: 4 | Tags: 1 | Level: Improver | Videos on Copperknob: 169 |
Choreographer: Landon James Purvis (USA) & Mark Paulino (USA) – November 2021
Music: I See Country by Ian Munsick
Step Sheet: Click here to download
Honky Tonk Way was released about the same time as Brandon Zahorsky’s super popular one, but at least to me, it seems to have taken a little longer to catch on. But now to me, it is officially on fire! For sure learn this one too if you don’t already know it.
Sources
Copperknob.co.uk–The Current Top 10 and 99 Line Dances
Linedancerweb.com
Top 10 & Top 99 Line Dances on Copperknob, Spring 2023!
Top 10 & Top 99 Line Dances on Copperknob, Summer 2022!
Great summary about dances to Shivers! I line dance in the UK and Canada. One thing I saw on the dance floor while visiting France – split floor, both versions of the dance happening simultaneously, and fabulous variation from the dancers doing Julia’s: they replaced the last 4 counts with the 4 hops from Brandon’s version. It was awesome for everyone on the dance floor to be hopping together!