Top 100 best DJs in the world 2018, ranking DJ Mag

DJs are the new superstars. They are gaining national recognition, making millions of dollars, and are firmly established on Forbes's Richest Musicians lists. And while social scientists are trying to explain the phenomenon of electronic music and find the reason for the popularity of the DJs that have risen on its wave, music lovers enjoy their favorite rhythms, and DJ Mag is trying to identify among many performers Top 100 DJs in the world in 2018.

According to the magazine, over 1.2 million fans of club music from 180 countries took part in the 25th anniversary vote of 2018, according to the magazine. This is the best result in the entire history of the survey.

The purpose of the rating was not only to identify the leaders and outsiders of the world of electronic music, but also to raise money for charity. For the past two years, DJ Mag has partnered with Unicef, which feeds, drinks and provides medicines and health care for children in poverty around the world. Over the past year, almost $ 100,000 was raised, and all of this money was spent on purchasing vaccines for more than 800,000 children.

Who became the best DJ in the world according to the readers of DJ Mag

The best of the impressive list of the world's top 100 DJs in 2018 was Martin Garrix. It was his face that looked at the residents and guests of the capital of the Netherlands during the Amsterdame Dance Event music festival. Martin decided to earn extra money by advertising a new fragrance from Ax.

For the third year in a row, this famous DJ is in the first place in the rating. An electronic prodigy, Garrix took the charts by storm, releasing his first hit, Animals, at the age of just 17.

In addition to the young talent, the top 10 includes the former "numbers one", who once reigned at the top, but have already begun a smooth descent down:

• Duo Dmitri Vegas & Like Mike.
• Hardwell and Armin van Buuren. They changed places once again.
• Dutchman Tiesto.
• Old-timer David Guetta, who began his career in the early nineties, took fifth place.
• He is followed by Don Diablo, Afrojack and Oliver Heldens.
• Closes the top ten favorite American teenagers and the owner of the memorable headdress Marshmello.

Bright ups and debuts in the DJ top 100

From the newcomers to the top 100 best DJs in the world, the debut of the blonde beauty MATTN can be noted. True, evil tongues claim that she owes her popularity primarily to her husband, who turned out to be Dmitri Vegas, occupying the second place in the rating.

And the duo Vini Vici pulled up the strongest of all, reaching 72nd in 2017, and rising to 34th this year.

As usual for many years, the Netherlands is best represented in the ranking. Almost a quarter of the top 100 DJs are from this country. But Russia was represented on the list by only one team, Swanky Tunes, which took 71st place. And this is a clear progress compared to last year's ranking, when they were at 99th position.

Scandals, intrigues, investigations in the top 100 most popular DJs of 2018

As usual after the announcement of the voting results, many DJs and their fans began scribbling angry messages on Twitter. They were especially outraged that the compilers of the rating gravitate towards electronic club music, but they are practically not interested in other areas. As a result, they are poorly represented in the top 100.

For example, such a popular genre as drum and bass was personified by the only DJ, Andy C. And his position in the rating dropped - from 77th place (in 2017) he slipped to 90th.

As usual, the rating is not complete without scandals. After Dmitry Vegas and Like Mike overtook Hardwell on the list, the latter accused the brothers on his Twitter of cheating the result. He said that at their submission, whole assault forces of hired workers with "iPads" landed in nightclubs to influence the results of the vote.

And in 2018, some unknown person anonymously posted the preliminary voting results on Reddit between the end of the voting (end of July) and the official announcement of the results, which took place on October 20. Than pretty much annoyed DJ Mag, ruining the whole surprise for them.

However, there are two opinions that all (or nearly all) DJ Mag readers agree with.

• First: Swedish DJ Eric Prydz continues to gain traction and now seems to have achieved his best performance in 10 years. In the top 100 of the best DJs of 2018, he moved to 20th place. Finally, Prydz's love of epic scale (and epic value) with light and holographic shows began to pay off with audience love.
• Second: every year, many names appear in the top 100 that no one knows. Who are Mariana Bo and Williams? Shrouded in the darkness of the unknown.

How electronic music makes stars

Why did electronic music actually give rise to the phenomenon of DJs? The main secret is the cheapness of success. To produce quality music content, you need nothing at all - a decent laptop and a pair of good headphones. And that's it, a potential new star was born.

The second plus of electronic music is the wide range of genres. It includes everything from hardcore underground techno to future bass and trap music.

Thirdly: the very musical format of electronic music directly pushes the creator to experiment and create his own unique style, which, possibly, will give rise to a new genre.

Fourth: pop vocals are great for electronic music. Many popular artists are starting to flirt with this format, which again adds to the genre's fame.

Therefore, more and more musicians are starting to produce electronic music, great compositions are being released, DJs are noticed by major players in the music market, and electronic music is moving into a commercial format with corresponding advertising budgets. And once a DJ reaches a certain level of popularity, it turns out that climbing to the top is much more difficult than enjoying being on it. He is famous, he is loved, and he no longer needs to be better than others. After all, the masses of listeners simply believe that this DJ is the best, because he is famous.