The first season of America's Best Dance Crew premiered on February 7, 2008. The season was hosted by Mario Lopez, featured Layla Kayleigh as the backstage correspondent, and was judged by rapper Lil Mama, former *NSYNC singer JC Chasez, and hip-hop choreographer Shane Sparks. On March 27, 2008, JabbaWockeeZ was declared the winner of Season 1 and received the $100,000 prize.

The second season of America's Best Dance Crew premiered on June 19, 2008. The live auditions special took place on June 8, 2008. The season was hosted by Mario Lopez and featured Layla Kayleigh as the backstage correspondent. The judges included rapper Lil Mama, former *NSYNC singer JC Chasez, and hip-hop choreographer Shane Sparks. On August 21, 2008, Super Cr3w was declared the winner of Season 2 and received the $100,000 prize.

The third season of America's Best Dance Crew premiered on January 15, 2009. The season was hosted by Mario Lopez and featured Layla Kayleigh as the backstage correspondent. The judges included rapper Lil Mama, former *NSYNC singer JC Chasez, and hip-hop choreographer Shane Sparks. Chasez stated that "we'll be taking a bit more time between seasons, which will give people ample time to get their crews together, practice and prepare." This was the first season without a special casting episode. On March 5, 2009, Quest Crew was declared the winner of Season 3 and received the $100,000 prize.

The fourth season of America's Best Dance Crew premiered on August 9, 2009 and concluded on September 27, 2009. All three judges and host Mario Lopez and backstage correspondent Layla Kayleigh from the previous seasons signed on for season 4. However, for the first time since the beginning of ABDC, DJ Rashida was not present as the show's DJ, as she was touring with Lady Gaga and JabbaWockeeZ. Preceding the first broadcast, MTV announced in a broadcast trailer that the show would be moving to its new Sunday night slot at 9pm ET/PT for the duration of the season. In Canada, MuchMusic aired this season at the same time as its MTV broadcast. In previous seasons, it was aired 3 days after MTV aired it. Unlike previous seasons, there was no live audition special. In the live season finale, We Are Heroes was declared the winner of Season 4 and received the $100,000 prize. On August 2, 2009, as a prologue for the season, the show premiered a special hosted by Randy Jackson called "The Top 10 Performances of All Time", where Randy showed his top 10 routines from the first three seasons. This was also the last season to feature Shane Sparks as a judge.

The fifth season of America's Best Dance Crew premiered on January 28, 2010 and concluded on April 8, 2010. Auditions were held in six cities from November 20 through December 12: Atlanta, Houston, Denver, Los Angeles, Boston, and New York. Audition callbacks were held the day after auditions, with evaluations by the TV show judges and members of past ABDC champions. The first three episodes of the season featured auditions from each region: South, East, and West. Shane Sparks did not return as a judge this season, due to his arrest, and was replaced by Omarion. In the live finale, Poreotix was declared the winner of Season 5 and received the $100,000 prize.