Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last two weeks, you’ll probably already know that this year DJ Mag crowned a new winner in our Top 100 DJs poll. Dutch superstar DJ and ‘Animals’ producer Martin Garrix took home the top spot, much to the delight of his legions of loyal fans around the globe, whilst last year’s winners Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike dropped one spot to come in at No. 2 in 2016.
Fellow Dutch selectors Hardwell, Armin Van Buuren and Tiesto rounded out the Top 5 (in that order) whilst newcomer Oliver Heldens entered DJ Mag’s Top 10 for the very first time. Guetta, Aoki and Afrojack all made an appearance in the Top 10 once again this year, and Skrillex managed to maintain his 2015 spot coming in at No.9. A quick glance at the Top 10 reveals that almost every act largely plays and produces EDM, with the exception of Heldens who's made a name for himself playing future house, or the occasional trance set from Top 100 mainstay Armin Van Buuren.
“Each year, many of you comment on how few techno DJs make it into the Top 100 list”
In 2016, Carl Cox was the highest-ranking techno DJ coming in at No.74. WIth this in mind, DJ Mag has decided to reveal a list of the highest ranking techno-leaning DJs to make the cut, all of whom spin genres outside the EDM realm. The results are fascinating.
The list is compiled from highest to lowest starting with Coxy and is based solely on the amount of votes received by each DJ by the voting public from 2016’s poll. It's a pretty comprehensive list that we’re confident any fan of the underground can get on board with, but as always, hop on Twitter and tell us who you’d like to see next year in the list!
01. CARL COX
02. RICHIE HAWTIN
03. UMEK
04. PAUL KALKBRENNER
05. SOLOMUN
06. MACEO PLEX
07. SASHA
08. SVEN VÄTH
09. JEFF MILLS
10. JAMIE JONES
11. JORIS VOORN
12. CARL CRAIG
13. GUY J
14. DANNY HOWELLS
15. MARCO CAROLA
16. SEBO K
17. ADAM BEYER
18. GUI BORATTO
19. HANNAH WANTS
20. JOHN DIGWEED
21. HERNAN CATTANEO
22. DUBFIRE
23. NINA KRAVIZ
24. JOSEPH CAPRIATI
25. STEVE LAWLER
26. CHRIS LIEBING
27. RICARDO VILLALOBOS
28. BEN KLOCK
29. PETE TONG
30. JAMES HOLDEN
31. KÖLSCH
32. THE MARTINEZ BROTHERS
33. SETH TROXLER
34. LOCO DICE
35. NICOLE MOUDABER
36. LEN FAKI
37. TALE OF US
38. PAN-POT
39. GREEN VELVET
40. JAMES ZABIELA
41. STEPHAN BODZIN
42. GESAFFELSTEIN
43. MAYA JANE COLES
44. DAVE CLARKE
45. SKREAM
46. PACO OSUNA
47. JAMIE XX
48. LAURENT GARNIER
49. SAM PAGANINI
50. ILARIO ALICANTE
