Armin van Buuren has been crowned the world’s No.1 DJ in the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs Poll Awards 2012 powered by Trackitdown.net. Armin was given the prestigious award at the Dutch edition of the Top 100 DJs Poll Awards event at Amsterdam’s Convention Factory, held for the second time during the Amsterdam Dance Event.
This is the fifth, recordbreaking win for the Dutchman, who regained the topspot from last year’s winner, David Guetta. The Top 100 DJs Poll powered by Trackitdown is the biggest music poll of its kind in the world with votes coming from over 170 countries.
Armin van Buuren said:
“2012 opened new doors. David being No.1 last year, the popularity of Avicii, Swedish House Mafia and Afrojack, for dance music, it’s amazing. It was great that David got it last year, to show dance music is evolving and it’s still exciting. Being No.1 again feels fantastic - there’s so much love out there. I’m so thankful for it.”
Awards were also announced for the highest placed DJ in each genre; the highest climber, Porter Robinson; and the highest new entry, Nicky Romero. Danny Tenaglia was entered into the inaugural Hall Of Fame, with his award presented by film and television star, Idris Elba. Last year’s highest new entry, and this year’s highest placed dubstep DJ, Skrillex, has made it to No.10.
Following his acceptance speech, Armin took to the DJ booth to entertain the 4000 strong crowd on a bill that also included Hardwell, Arty, R3hab and Sander Van Doorn. The Dutch star then flew to London for the UK edition of the Top 100 DJs party at The Gallery at the Ministry of Sound, joining a line-up featuring Markus Schulz, Sean Tyas, Orjan Nilsen, Thomas Gold, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and many more.
Most votes for this year’s poll came from the United States – about one-fifth, nearly three times as many as the country with the second most votes, the UK. The next countries in terms of votes were Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Canada, France, Portugal, Australia and Spain. Votes also came in from countries including Equatorian Guinea, Malawi, Bhutan, Gambia and Chad.
On 22 October, Ministry of Sound, the largest global dance music label and internationally renowned club, will release the official DJ Mag Top 100 DJs album, a 2CD album packed with some of the biggest tracks to have graced the world’s clubs this year.
CD1 features the current leading names in the electronic dance music scene. CD2 covers legendary DJ’s that have long established their reputation in dance music, including acts who have pioneered trance and progressive house, genres of dance music that have dominated the Top 100 DJs poll in recent years.
ABOUT THE DJ MAG TOP 100 DJS POLL
The Top 100 DJs Poll powered by Trackitdown is the biggest music poll of its kind in the world. DJ Mag is the world’s biggest dance magazine, translated into multiple languages and with more Facebook fans than any other music magazine worldwide.
The Top 100 DJs Poll powered by Trackitdown is a public vote where voters are given the chance to name their Top 5 favourite DJs in order of preference. It inspires fierce debate all year round with speculation on the world’s top spinner, new entries, and biggest climbers, dominating social media and beyond.
DJ MAG TOP 100 DJS POLL 2012 – SYNOPSIS AND RESULTS
Analysis from DJ Mag’s Carl Loben.
The first bit of big news in this year's Top 100 DJs poll is that there's a new No.1 DJ – or rather, there's a different No.1 to last year. Armin van Buuren has returned to the summit after being displaced by David Guetta last year.
Armin's legion of trance fans are going to be delighted with the Dutchman's return to the No.1 slot – just call him the comeback kid. The millions of listeners to Armin's A State Of Trance radio show, and the tens of thousands who see him play somewhere in the world every week, have pulled out the stops to reinstate their hero at the top of the pile – for the fifth time overall.
So it's congratulations to Armin as he continues to pioneer the sound of trance music all around the world. Yet it's been the rise of EDM in America that has led to the most interesting developments in terms of genres of late. EDM – standing for 'Electronic Dance Music' – has become a catch-all term for an amalgam of big room house beats, epic trancey synths and wobbly dubstep breakdowns. In fact, anything from electro-house to anthemic trance to scintillating brostep gets called 'EDM' in the US these days, and this tidal wave is threatening to sweep away the delineation of big room genres in its path.
Just a couple of years ago, around half of the Top 100 DJs self-defined as trance jocks, but nowadays it's hard to find more than a handful who exclusively call themselves 'trance' when describing their DJ style. Tiesto – who has risen one place again to No.2 - abandoned trance a couple of years ago, but when UK duo Above & Beyond (No.8) stop using the term, and former Top 100 winner Paul van Dyk (No.16) and trance stalwarts such as Cosmic Gate (No.39) start calling themselves 'EDM', we know that something is afoot. No.14 jock Gareth Emery's description of his sound as “house, progressive, electro, trance... whatever really” just about sums up the pick 'n' mix style that many of the big DJs are adopting these days under the auspices of the umbrella term of EDM.
Psy-trance pioneers Infected Mushroom (No.43) have broadened their sound out now into EDM too, and even Armin is making ('We Are Here To Make Some Noise') and playing some house music these days – and seems to be promising more of an eclectic 'EDM' selection with his next album. So does this mean trance is dead? Well, it seems more to be the case that trancey sounds – arpeggiated synths, melodies, epic breakdowns etc – are being absorbed into the amorphous blob of EDM.
Pete Tha Zouk (No.47) might drop the genre 'trouse' into his description, but it's a term that hasn't really caught on. In the US, where the scene has exploded in the last couple of years, trancey electro-house tends to be called 'progressive' – a term that has already been through several different variations in the UK and Europe over the past 20 years.
The sound of Avicii (No.3) is as much EDM as what David Guetta (No.2) makes and plays – even though the Swede is more on a trancey tip, while Guetta is perhaps more electro/urban/pop. But when it comes down to it, a lot of these guys are playing the same big records. They're big room records made by the Swedish House Mafia (No.12), Thomas Gold (No.82), Nicky Romero (highest new entry at No.17) and so on. EDM, instead of describing all styles of dance music, has mainly come to mean all big room house floor-fillers. However, even the bass-heavy sounds of Skrillex (No.10), Knife Party (new entry at No.33) and Steve Aoki (up to No.15) get lumped in with EDM in the US.
EDM taking over Vegas and the American explosion has meant that it's been a bad year for techno jocks in terms of Top 100 placings. You could say that techno, by its very nature, is the antithesis of EDM, and former Top 100 winner Carl Cox is the highest techno DJ, down at No.45. Richie Hawtin (already looking beyond EDM – see page 14), meanwhile, is down to No.76 – down 31. Umek (No.59) holds steady though, but he did have the President Of Slovenia recording a campaign video urging the whole country to vote for him.
The other big story in this year's Top 100 DJs list is the continuing rise of hardstyle. Headhunterz leads the charge, up to No.11, while Noisecontrollers (up to No.27), Zatox (up 11 to No.36), Coone (up to No.37), Wildstylez (up 39 to No.41) and Brennan Heart (up 49 to No.49) have all increased their vote. Wasted Penguinz, Frontliner, Ran D and De Tweekaz are all new entries in the lower half of the chart, while Psyko Punkz (up 11 to No.67) and Angerfist (No.42) stay strong.
On the face of it, hardstyle – what hard house or hard dance has become – is quite a niche scene, with fans of harder-edged boshing sounds limited mainly to a few festivals and big events in Europe. But just lately a lot of hardstyle producers have been bringing more accessible melodies, hooks and vocals into their productions, meaning that those tracks can be played in more mainstream clubs without the DJ getting thrown off the decks. There have even been some moves to rebrand hardstyle as 'HEDM' – hard electronic dance music – and scene leader Headhunterz has been remixing the EDM likes of Nicky Romero, Kaskade and Hardwell (not a hardstyle producer, despite his name).
The continual enthusiasm of hard dance fans for voting in the Top 100 poll has meant that a number of long-term stalwarts have dropped out of the charts this year. The non-appearance of Sasha, Sven Vath and Fatboy Slim in the Top 100 this year – not to mention Joris Voorn and James Zabiela, and with John Digweed down to No.98 – is going to disappoint many, but is perhaps symbolic of a new rush-happy generation coming through.
There's only one drum & bass DJ in the chart this year, Hospital's Netsky - “the Belgian Bieber of bass” - and only female entry, although there are actually two Nervo twins, Miriam and Olivia, who have come in at No.46.
This year saw the Poll inspiring fierce debate as loyal dance music fans voted in their hundreds of thousands once again. The Poll closed on 30th August, an extra day having been added due to the weight of last minute votes that crashed the Facebook app. Over 50,000 people downloaded the free Top 100 DJs album from Trackitdown, which featured tracks and remixes from UMEK, Sander Van Doorn, Roger Sanchez, Alex M.O.R.P.H. presents Indigo, Chuckie, Ferry Corsten and many more.
TOP 100 DJS 1-100
1. ARMIN VAN BUUREN
2. TIESTO
3. AVICII
4. DAVID GUETTA
5. DEADMAU5
6. HARDWELL
7. DASH BERLIN
8. ABOVE & BEYOND
9. AFROJACK
10. SKRILLEX
11. HEADHUNTERZ
12. SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA
13. MARKUS SCHULZ
14. GARETH EMERY
15. STEVE AOKI
16. PAUL VAN DYK
17. NICKY ROMERO
18. SANDER VAN DOORN
19. ALY & FILA
20. ALESSO
21. ATB
22. FERRY CORSTEN
23. AXWELL
24. DADA LIFE
25. W & W
26. FEDDE LE GRAND
27. NOISECONTROLLERS
28. ARTY
29. LAIDBACK LUKE
30. KASKADE
31. CALVIN HARRIS
32. ORJAN NILSEN
33. KNIFE PARTY
34. SEBASTIAN INGROSSO
35. CHUCKIE
36. ZATOX
37. COONE
38. DIMITRI VEGAS & LIKE MIKE
39. COSMIC GATE
40. PORTER ROBINSON
41. WILDSTYLEZ
42. ANGERFIST
43. INFECTED MUSHROOM
44. DAFT PUNK
45. CARL COX
46. NERVO
47. PETE THA ZOUK
48. MARTIN SOLVEIG
49. BRENNAN HEART
50. TENISHIA
51. ZEDD
52. ERIC PRYDZ
53. BOBINA
54. MADEON
55. JOHN OCALLAGHAN
56. DJ FEEL
57. STEVE ANGELLO
58. OMNIA
59. UMEK
60. WOLFGANG GARTNER
61. AN21
62. TOMMY TRASH
63. FRANCIS DAVILA
64. D BLOCK AND S TE FAN
65. TRITONAL
66. BINGO PLAYERS
67. PSYKO PUNKZ
68. SHOGUN
69. PAUL OAKENFOLD
70. BENNY BENASSI
71. TYDI
72. MAT ZO
73. R3HAB
74. QUENTIN MOSIMANN
75. WASTED PENGUINZ
76. DIRTY SOUTH
77. ANDREW RAYEL
78. RICHIE HAWTIN
79. FRONTLINER
80. MYON AND SHANE 54
81. HEATBEAT
82. THOMAS GOLD
83. NERO
84. ROGER SHAH
85. FEED ME
86. MIKE CANDYS
87. ANDY MOOR
88. RAN D
89. RICHARD DURAND
90. FELGUK
91. PAUL KALKBRENNER
92. MOONBEAM
93. SEAN TYAS
94. BOB SINCLAR
95. NETSKY
96. NEELIX
97. MARK KNIGHT
98. JOHN DIGWEED
99. DA TWEEKAZ
100. PROJECT 46
