Ring in the New Year by reviewing the most popular Irish dance videos posted to YouTube in the last 12 months.

As I’ve done in years past, I built this year’s list by searching “Irish dance” and “Irish dancing” on YouTube, filtering results to include only those videos uploaded in 2013. From there, I sorted the results based on view count.

Popular dance music has captured the attention of Irish dancers and others. This trend of meshing old and new is as strong as ever.

Though many Irish dance videos have amassed thousands of views, the top 10 or so videos on the list are clear winners, some having been watched hundreds of thousands of times.

Without further ado, here are the top 13 Irish dance videos posted to YouTube in 2013, beginning with the winner:

1. Hammerstep’s “America’s Got Talent” audition

475,149 views



Hammerstep’s been going strong for a few years now. The dance crew, co-founded by two-time world Irish dance champion Garrett Coleman and former Riverdance lead dancer Jason Oremus, has performed around the world, everywhere from rural Africa to Lincoln Center in Manhattan.

Coleman and Oremus were joined on the AGT stage by Meghan Lucey, Nicole Zepcevski, Jonathon Srour, Kamaal Davis and Ronald Simmons. Together, the crew wowed the judges, including radio shock jock Howard Stern, who told the crew, "Your skill level is so high that you're impossible to ignore.”

Stern’s right. Hammerstep cannot and will not be ignored as they sit comfortably at the tippy-top of this year’s list. Congrats, Hammerstep!

2. “Take the Floor” flash mob in Dublin Airport

189,500 views



3. Dancing and trad session on train from Dublin to Galway

183,923 views



4. “Cup Song” -- Irish dance-style

170,262 views



5. “Fantastic Footwork,” by the Boston Globe

150,923 views


6. An Daire Irish Dancers’ “Gangnam Style”

102,868 views



7. The Academy’s “America’s Got Talent” performance

77,067 views



8. The Gathering’s Irish dance tutorial

51,967 views



9. Victorian State Irish Dancing Championships dance of champions

51,738 views


 
10. TapTronic’s “Hold Your Breath”

51,461 views



11. Irish Dancing World Championships 6th-place ceili performance

42,290 views



12. Riverdance’s longest line world record

41,851 views



13. Senior world champs Claire Greaney and Tyler Schwartz

35,897 views