DJ Casper developed the Cha Cha Slide in 2000 for Bally Total Fitness; it became a hit with gym members, and the dance's popularity prompted Mr. C to record Cha-Cha Slide: The Original Slide Album. It was released on September 19, 2000. The following year, 2001, the dance caught on around Canada and the USA, where urban contemporary radio stations (and later mobile DJs), particularly in Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Arkansas, Memphis, and Detroit.

DJ Casper has made another version of the "Cha Cha Slide (Part 2)". By 2003 "Cha Cha Slide (Part 2)" was being played at urban venues and clubs in the Western United States. During NBA basketball games, the portion of "Cha Cha Slide (Part 2)" where DJ Casper says "Everybody clap your hands" followed by the clapping synthesizer sounds are played on regular rotation when the home team has possession of the ball.

MC Jig also did a version of the song, which reached #33 in the UK, but the DJ Casper version was far more successful, reaching #1 on the same chart in 2004. Its success in the UK was helped by Scott Mills of BBC Radio One who pioneered the song on his weekday afternoon radio show. The song is popular at high, middle, and elementary school dance events. During the 2006 NLCS, both the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals used part of the song to excite their crowds. Since then, other Major League Baseball teams, such as the Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies, have also regularly used the song. In 2007 McDonald's used the song in a television commercial in which a young boy dressed in old school hip hop fashion listens to the song while enjoying a meal with his family.

Harry Hard (Aka Hardino) produced this track along with the production company All around the world.

In 2009, the song served as the inspiration for Insane Clown Posse's "Chop Chop Slide", which appeared on the green cover variant and "Nuclear Edition" of the album Bang! Pow! Boom!