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WATCH HARDWELL'S TOP 100 PRIVATE JET INTERVIEW

The No.1 DJ in the world talks to DJ Mag en route to the second Top 100 party

Hardwell received the coveted No.1 DJ in the world award at the massive Amsterdam party on Saturday 18th October. This is the fourth year in a row that the Top 100 DJs awards have been in Amsterdam, to coincide with the ADE conference that occurs in mid-October every year.

Hardwell picked up his No.1 DJ award at the huge 30,000-people party at the Amsterdam ArenA — the home of Ajax football club. The biggest event that DJ Mag has ever been involved with, it also involved other award-winners picking up their trophies at the glitzy ceremony. Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, voted No.2 in the world this year, received their award for the Highest DJ Duo, Armin Van Buuren once again collected the Highest Trance DJ trophy, and so on. See all the results here 

While the awards were being presented, #Top100DJs was trending worldwide – second only to 'Ebola'. #DJMagTop100 was also trending worldwide, and there were more tweets in the UK about the Top 100 than there was about X-Factor on prime-time Saturday night.

The crowd in the Amsterdam ArenA were warmed up by 2011 No.1 DJ David Guetta and Highest New Entry Deorro before silence fell on the venue. As Hardwell's intro track played, he ducked behind the decks with his tour manager while assorted photographers snapped pics from all angles. As the epic intro faded, Hardwell jumped up... and the No.1 DJ in the world was revealed (excuse the pun!).

From DJ Mag's vantage point backstage, we witnessed the energy Hardwell puts into his show at first hand — jumping up and down and pogoing repeatedly, black t-shirt drenched in sweat. As Hardwell dropped his W&W collab, we chatted to Armin — playing at 1am after Hardwell — hanging out behind the decks. “It's nice to see a new generation coming through,” he said, magnanimously. “I've been blessed to be in the top three for a decade or more now.”

As Armin took over on the decks, we followed Hardwell into a convoy of cars in the arena concourse. His parents and friends waved him off, and we pegged it to Schiphol Airport to jump on a private jet — kindly provided by progressive Dutch airline KLM (tagline: 'Carrier of the world's best DJs') — to the UK so that Hardwell could play the London show at Brixton Academy too. On board, the champagne and Jager was flowing, and we collared Hardwell for a quick interview.  

Watch it here: