"I Hope You Dance" is a crossover country pop song written by Mark Sanders and Tia Sillers and recorded by country singer Lee Ann Womack with Sons of the Desert. The song, which was featured on Womack's 2000 album of the same name, reached number one on both the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks and Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts, and also reached number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100. It is considered to be Womack's signature song, and it is the only Billboard number one for both Womack and Sons of the Desert. "I Hope You Dance" won the 2001 CMA, ACM, NSAI, ASCAP and BMI awards for Song of the Year. It also won the Grammy Award for Best Country Song and was nominated for Song of the Year. "I Hope You Dance" is ranked 352 in the list "Songs of the Century" compiled by Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "I Hope You Dance" reached its 2 million sales mark in the United States in October 2015, and as of August 2016, it has sold 2,093,000 digital copies in the US.

Womack told The Today Show, "You can't hear those lyrics and not think about children and—and—and hope for the future and things you want for them. And those are the things I want for them in life. I want them to feel small when they stand beside the ocean." She also said, "Sometimes I have fun and lighthearted things. But even "I Hope You Dance." I was so shocked to see the way the kids got it. When—when I say kids, I mean, you know, like teen-agers. And we saw a big difference in our audience and—and the young kids that were coming out to the shows and really into "I Hope You Dance." It turned into like a prom and graduation theme." Womack told The Early Show, "I thought it was very special. It made me think about Aubrie and Anna Lisa. And I—I didn't know—I can't predict if something's going to be a big hit or not. But it certainly hit home with a lot of people, connected with a lot of people and took me a lot of new places that I had not been able to go before and took my career to a new level."

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