Sexual selection, as a form of social selection based on reproductive resources, is a crucial driver of evolutionary change. Many studies on sexual selection identify potential targets only within the reproductive fraction of populations. Floaters constitute the non-territorial fraction of the population, according to the usual definitions. Floaters have been identified through exhaustive capture and marking programmes, removal and nest-box addition experiments, extra-pair paternity studies, acoustic marking and genetic studies. The literature shows that floaters may represent a considerable fraction of populations, especially among males. There is no clear evidence that size, condition or testosterone level is necessary for explaining floater status generally. However, the literature suggests that ornament size and expression are involved in territorial exclusion and may be either its cause or one of its consequences. There is some evidence that floaters survive and reproduce less well than territorials, and that changes from floater to territorial status are accompanied by changes in survival and reproductive rates. However, certain male floaters may obtain some reproductive success through extra-pair copulations. The possibility that floating constitutes a successful alternative strategy in some species cannot be excluded, although the current preliminary consensus is that floaters are ‘making the best of a bad job’. Floater status may be imposed by limitations in the availability of mates or breeding space resulting in skewed population sex ratios, polygamous mating systems, high population densities and increased demand for specific breeding requirements such as space in colonies or adequate nesting cavities. Predictions concerning the effects of these factors have not been conducted to date. Few studies have been able to clarify the duration of floater status in any population. For short-lived species, floater status in a single breeding season may in fact imply zero lifetime reproductive success. In males, the existence of a considerable fraction of floaters attempting to breed may select for intense territorial behaviour and competitive mate guarding tactics in territory holders and in aggressive extrapair copulation and territory acquisition tactics in floaters. Interference competition from floaters may lead to density-dependent declines in reproductive success. In females, the attempts by floaters to attain breeding opportunities may have contributed to the observed propensities for female prospecting and for female-female aggression and the signalling of female dominance towards other females. Moreover, there may exist selection in females for signalling quality to mates in order to avoid being evicted by rivals. Excluding floaters from the analysis of sexually selected traits may severely affect sexual selection estimates because of biased sampling for large or more intensely expressed ornamentation. The importance of sexual selection may be negated or underestimated when in fact its action on floaters could be maintaining current levels of expression in the territorial fraction. Existing phenotypes should express, in their morphology, physiology and behaviour, the relentless drive through evolutionary time to avoid becoming a floater.