Discussion of the DJ Mag Top 100 Rankings

I know this is very delayed, but better late then never! DJ Mag is perhaps the most highly respected publication in the industry of electronic music, hence their rankings are taken very seriously, and are treated as the most legitimate. Most of the reason for their validity is that anyone (fans, subscribers, non-subscribers, haters) can vote. Furthermore, because it is so widely read, they have enough people voting to consider themselves as getting sufficient input internationally. I believe there is only very slight bias towards the British DJs and Clubs in their rankings, since the magazine comes out of the UK, but honestly I don't think it effects the overall outcome too much.

Ok, I'm not too sure how to organize my thoughts or this blog post so bear with me. I guess we'll start from the back-end and I will talk about anything I think is notable, but feel free to agree, argue, and bring up other points. Additionally, I'm only going to discuss what I know and how I feel, I'm not an expert on the entire industry, so please fill me and the readers in on anything I may have left out.

100-70

100. DJ Vibe

99. Justice

98. The Thrillseekers

97. Sied Van Riel

96. Marcus Schossow

95. Luciano

94. Calvin Harris

93. Claudia Cazacu

92. Laurent Wolf

91. Showtek

90. Noisecontrollers

89. Dada Life

88. Joris Voorn

87. Arnej

86. Bloody Beetroots

85. Pete Tong

84. Paul Kalkbrenner

83. Skazi

82. Fatboy Slim

81. Pete the Zouk

80. Boy George

79. BT

78. Arty

77. Daniel Kandi

76. John B

75. Dirty South

74. Dubfire

73. D-blcok and S-TE-FAN

72. Boys Noize

71. W&W

70. Wolfgang Gartner

It seems as though electro is still getting the short end of the stick here, with Boys Noize, the Beetroots, Justice, and even Wolfgang being so far back. I honestly would have thought they would have been higher in the rankings. I guess perhaps electro is actually not as big in Europe as it is in the states right now, since I know these guys are all pretty big over here. I remember clearly at Ultra the electro stage had a succession of Bloody Beetroots, to Boys Noize, to Crookers all consecutively and the crowd went back as far as you could see. Additionally, Wolfgang played mainstage at Ultra between Tiesto and Guetta. So like I said, the only reason why I could see this happening is because Europe (where I think the majority of the votes come from) or maybe even America, minus the Greater NYC area, are not as big of electro fans as we are here.

More notes here. Dirty South 75 (down 16 places) and Calvin Harris 94?! Is that a joke? While perhaps in the last year Dirty South didn't put out as many tracks as he did the year before, he certainly has bolstered up his live game because his set at Electric Zoo was unbelievable, and when I saw him back in June at a small lounge in Jersey called Deko, I was also very impressed. And as for Calvin Harris, I don't understand how Boy George could be ranked above Calvin Harris. Calvin and DS both at least deserve top 50.

69-51:

69. Ronski Speed

68. Leon Boiler

67. Marco V

66. Mat Zo

65. Wally Lopez

64. Roger Sanchez

63. Marcel Woods

62. Myon and Shane 54

61. Andy C

60. Super8 & Tab

59. Astrix

58. Sven Vath

57. Hern Cataneo

56. tyDi

55. Martin Solveig

54. Richard Durand

53. Mark Knight

52. Matt Darey

51. Paul Oakenfold

Okay to be quite honest I don't really know enough about most of these guys to say much, but it should be noted that Richard Durand fell 5 spots since last year. People need to realize that Tiesto handed over his epic In Search of Sunrise franchise to Mr. Durand this year - an honor a lot of younger trance DJ's would have dreamed about. So while he may not have been pumping out as many mysteriously dark remixes to trance anthems as usual, consider that he's been promoting his new position and figuring out how to continue ISOS, a pretty big responsibility if you ask me. Perhaps he should have stayed where he was in the rankings, but to drop 5 places? Not so sure.

Now, lets get into the top 50:

50-31

50. Umek

49. James Zabiela

48. Erick Morillo

47. Eddie Halliwell

46. Sean Tyas

45. Lange

44. Daft Punk

43. Joachim Garraud

42. Moonbeam

41. DJ Feel.

40. Kyau & Albert

39. Avicii

38. Bob Sinclar

37. Chuckie

36. Headhunterz

35. Kaskade

34. Roger Shah

33. John OCallaghan

32. Andy Moor

31. Richie Hawtin.

The first comment I'd like to make, which I believe that we'll see as the rankings go further is that trance is slowly falling back in the rankings. A few years back the entire top 20 was Dutch and British trance DJs. In just the scope that is presented above, we see Andy Moore and Joachim Garraud falling back a considerable number of spaces since last year. There's nothing wrong with this, I love trance, I believe it's the backbone of electronic music, however this shows a considerable swing towards house.

Another comment is MixMash's Avicii (which I will probably misspell a million times because I can never remember how many i's vs c's) lands himself at #39. At the age of 21, this kid's been pumping out remixes and singles left and right. Very disappointed I did not get to see him at Pacha a few weeks back, but I'm sure this is only the beginning, and landing yourself at #39 without even being ranked last year is quite a feat. Cheers to you, Mr. Avicii.

Obviously my Dirty Dutch bias is playing in here, but I think Chuckie should have at least pulled top 30. I've never seen a bad performance, he's an awesome MC too, really knows how to pump up a crowd. If you haven't downloaded any of his sets, I suggest grabbing some of his Sensation sets (and subscribing to their podcast!) because they're all high quality live recordings. Either way, he moved up 35 spots so props to Chuck!

Also, I would have thought Kaskade might have made top 30, but I'm not complaining to see him at 35. I think he really started to take off recently, and I think we will see a huge 2010-2011 from America's best DJ. His most recent mashup of ONE vs Light A Fire in Your New Shoes is awesome, and says a lot about him stepping outside the minimal-tech-house boundaries. Take a listen here.

30-11:

30. Eric Prydz

29. John Digweed

28. Simon Patterson

27. Sasha

26. Benny Benassi

25. Bobina

24. Cosmic Gate

23. Swedish House Mafia

22. Carl Cox

21. Fedde Le Grand

20. Aly & Fila

19. Afrojack

18. Judge Jules

17. Laidback Luke

16. Sebastian Ingrosso

15. Dash Berlin

14. Steve Angello

13. Infected Mushroom

12. Sander van Doorn

11. ATB

Benny at 26 I think is actually a little generous. Benny has a unique sound and is always a crowd-pleaser live, but he's been in the industry a long time and I think that's what is keeping him in the top 30.

It's odd to see that they ranked the Swedish House Mafia as a group and then each member individually. This is new from last year I believe. Either way, I don't think it's a surprise to anyone to see all 4 entities in the top 20 and Axwell in the top 10. These dudes have been busting their behinds and collaborating with all the other big name house DJs from Guetta, to Dirty South, to Laidback Luke, and they've all had a monster year. Thanks for helping flood the top 25 with house fellas.

As you can imagine, I am delighted to see Afrojack at 19. I am really impressed he cracked the top 20. Since WMC in March I feel like I can't go a week or two without hearing another song or remix by or featuring Afrojack. Not to mention the recent release of the official music video for Take Over Control is a huge step in the direction of bringing that dirty dutch sound to the mainstream. See it here. They altered the song a bit for the video which I'm not so happy about, but I am happy about the idea behind it.

Laidback Luke at 17 moving up 10 spots I think is a very appropriate ranking and I think he has the potential to be in the top 10 or so next year. MixMash has taken off and the unique sound he and his cronies perpetuate is becoming more and more popular everyday. The concept of his "Super You & Me" parties is really fun, and I think that it's a trend that will catch on even more in the 2010-2011 year. Once a master remixer, Luke has been producing many of his own tracks which lend themselves to remixing, a true sign of maturity in the industry.

Additionally, even though I am a big Sander van Doorn fan and love his sound, I still think he is ranked too high (even though he's down two spots from last year) simply because I don't think he's done that much since last year. I believe it's his uniqueness that keeps him afloat.

The Top 10:

10. Axwell

9. Ferry Corsten

8. Markus Schulz

7. Gareth Emery

6. Paul van Dyk

5. Above and Beyond

4. Deadmau5

3. Tiesto

2. David Guetta*****

1. Armin van Buuren

As a whole, we can see clearly here how trance (with the exception of AvB) has slid backward. Ferry, PvD, Above and Beyond, and Tiesto all fall in the rankings. Furthermore we see how house music is slowly taking control of the top 10 with Axwell, Deadmau5, and Guetta. A few years back, there were no house DJs in the top 10 at all. This is a huge sign of the industry-wide swing to house from trance. As I side before, I believe trance is the backbone of electronic music, but let's not forget that house music is what gave birth to synthesized electronic music the first time around, in those abandoned warehouses in Chicago in the late 80's.

To be honest, I have no idea how deadmau5 even moved up in the rankings, it's beyond me. I would have bet he'd drop out of the top 10 and am shocked to see him in the top 5. But, if you've read my previous posts, you know my thoughts of him - love his music, hate his personality and motives - don't belive he's done enough recently to be placed here.

Axwell I think gets a very appropriate position at #10, as he probably has the most tracks/collaborations of anyone in the phenomenon that is the Swedish House Mafia.

Similarly, I think Guetta at #2 is very appropriate (though I would have loved to see him take the #1 spot, but I don't think this was the year for that). He continues to perpetuate his own philosophy of breaking down genres and boundaries, and "not trying to be credible, but trying to be incredible". People love to hate Mr. Guetta because he's broken into the mainstream world, which is honestly a really dumb reason to hate him. He's making to music we love versatile and appealing to everyone, why would you hate on that? Sure some of the tunes he puts out are a little pop-y, but if you've ever seen Guetta live - and not at a festival - I mean a David Guetta 4 or 5 or 6 hour set, then you'll know why I feel in love with him. Guetta live is not the One Love Guetta, he's not the Pop Life Guetta, he's not even the Guettablaster Guetta - he takes on a completely different yet awesome persona and just owns the club bouncing back and forth from classic dance tunes, to his own beats, to hip hop remixes, to rock remixes, to dirty dutch beats - I can't even explain. Every time I've seen him and I think I have him figured out, I leave saying , "what the hell just went on" in awe of his constantly changing, yet always perfectly fun and appropriately intense sets. David Guetta LIVE and Davd Guetta's mentality are the reasons he is #2, not because he made "I gotta feeling". So get over it.

Aside from that, honestly I would have thought Tiesto and AvB would have been switched, because Tiesto busted his hump to 1. Re-releasing a remix album of Kaleidoscope 2. Releasing his Magik Journey album of his classics and a variety of DJs remixing them and 3. Perfecting his live sound. But I guess fans chose the release of Mirage, along with the ever popular A State of Trance podcast and the heart warming stage presence the Armin van Buuren offers the world instead.

That's about it. I'm going to try and make it to see Sebastian Ingrosso at Pacha this weekend. Lots of shows coming up. Check the listings in my previous posts. Please let me know what you guys think about the rankings!!!