As everyone surely knows, this Saturday 7th November, during the AMF, the Top100DJMag, annual ranking of the best DJs in the world, was unveiled. Read here.
Beyond the personal thoughts on the ranking, which is discussed by many enthusiasts and insiders every year, we at EDM lab want to propose Our focus on the top 10 positions. Promise: we will be very critical through this article, we will express our thoughts on each of the 10 steps and on the work of the djs in question according to what they did in this 2020; this is just our thought, with which you can agree or disagree.
Number 10: Timmy Trumpet
Eh? If you like party music, heavy bass, straight bass drum and you want to have a laugh, maybe you could be a fan of his music, so far nothing wrong. But does it deserve such a high position?
Number 9: Steve Aoki
A few pseudo-good productions in this year, which is going away, still gives him a high position in the ranking, in our opinion, deserved. The Jap-American has stopped throwing cakes and has gone into production perhaps a bit more seriously with records like LIES and continuing his saga of albums/EP Neon Future with outstanding collaborations and lots of quality.
Number 8: Oliver Heldens
Coming from first position in Top 101 producers by 1001tracklists (read here), Oliver has spent a spectacular year, many important releases outlining his character. Putting aside a bit the project HI-LO, week after week, Heldens has been releasing philo-techno disks and radio hits to the present day with the release of Heldeep’s sub-label, OH2 Records, not to mention streaming shows with cinematic settings. Well done, Oliver.
Number 7: Afrojack
A year a little undertone for the former god of the club music, who perhaps distracted by the new flame Elettra Lamborghini with whom he got married a few weeks ago, left the music out a little. However, he rode the wave slap-house with several records that have become hits, including the beautiful Speechless. Afrojack still enjoys a reputation inherited over the last 10 years. It’s in!
Number 6: Don Diablo
The Don also deserves the position he has earned. Numerous records and remakes have kept him in vogue, the homemade streaming series with spectacular DJ sets has raised the bar of his skills as a DJ (we talked about it here); on the production side Don opened the side project with 80s sounding music declaring to be a big fan of those sounds. His Hexagon is also a big fan of those sounds.
Number 5: Alok
What? A position with which we completely disagree. Don’t get us wrong, we’re not haters, Alok is an excellent producer, and he has proved it with releases such as Don’t Say Goodbye (beautiful) that certify his professional growth, but we firmly believe he’s not a top 10 DJ.
Number 4: Armin Van Buuren
King Armin has proved in every way to be number 1. And for us, he is and will be for a long time to come. An exceptional radio show that counts millions of listeners every week, almost one release a week, from pop dance to trance, to techno-trance and progressive: each of his records is a masterpiece. He has collaborated with minor and big artists in the sector. Each of his DJ sets is a history to live, in short, we are talking about Armin Van Buuren. 5 times number 1 in the world. A character that doesn’t follow the wave at all but is the wave itself. His radio show is about to reach episode 1000, probably the only one to achieve this result. Apparently the EDM fans are not yet mature enough to give it a higher position again.
Number 3: Martin Garrix
The now more than mature young man, after 3 consecutive victories for Top100DJMag, yields a little with a 2020 slightly undertone. Few releases, certainly important and prominent, but nothing that makes you cry out for a miracle. Maybe he’s working hard on something new to be released in 2021? Let’s hope so. C’mon Martin!
Number 2: Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike
They finally forgive the leadership of this ranking, which in the past has seen them as protagonists of the EDM world twice. Between methods that are not suitable for voting and a questionable musical career, they are certainly festive, but they don’t deserve such a high position. If you want to jump as much as I can, a djset of theirs is definitely the best choice, but let’s not talk about epic works, because we’re out of the way. To that two should be added at least one zero.
Number 1: David Guetta
The Frenchman returns to the top after 9 years, crowning an epic 2020: the position, extra-deserved, has won it because David is a visionary. He played it easy with the last song let’s love going to fish out the sounds of the 80s and a perfect voice to match, that of Sia, but he did a great job of modernizing the EDM sounds setting a new reference to the beginning of this new decade. What are we talking about? Obviously the new sound launched in collaboration with MORTEN, which he called “Future Rave“. An EDM strongly influenced by techno sounds, modernized, slightly more melodic, “fat” and pushed towards a new “Future”. The new festival-tracks are absolutely his releases this year: Kill Me Slow, Make it to Heaven, Detroit 3AM are just a few examples. David Guetta is on top of the world now more than ever. He’s a hit maker from TEN years and now he has restored the music rules. Now, from here, it starts again.
A mention also of some new entries and important jumps in this ranking:
Why Tiesto is at 16th position? He, too, has done so much in this 2020, has he lost appeal? And yet you can still feel the quality. Calvin Harris gains only 3 positions and is ranked #18. His work is amazing, he deserves to be much taller – perhaps in second place. Kygo takes the chase and jumps 24 positions uphill to #28, which his past record remakes have brought him so much luck? Nicky Romero gains 6 positions but can’t do better than 31st place, too bad! At number 48 we find the highest new entry, the Techno world makes itself heard with Adam Beyer, then at #59 with Amelie Lens and Jamie Jones #68. Our beloved Nora en Pure enters the top100 and takes the #73 position after a 2020 of masterpieces, the girl grows up very well and after the launch of her label Purified she has a great future ahead of her. The SHM lost 42 positions, and certainly the 84th position is well deserved, after the reunion the total darkness, as fans, we are terribly disappointed by them, we feel mocked. The last 15 positions are swarming with new entries, you can judge whether you’re allowed, but certainly Robin Schulz at #99 is an absolute waste. The full Top 100DJ Mag ⬇️
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