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DJ Mag Top100 DJs
2
Tiësto
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After winning three years in a row before losing his crown to Paul van Dyk last year, Tiësto once again came close to lifting the No.1 title. So even a second place in the Top 100 must feel like a failure. Or perhaps not…
When you've played to close to two million people in the last 12 months, failure is a word that doesn't really apply. And Tiësto refuses to hit the campaign trail, last year actively encouraging fans to vote for new talent.
"I'm sure there isn't a DJ in the world who doesn't want to win," says the big fella. "But I never promoted myself to my fans like 'Please vote for me!' I think if you do that it takes away the charm of winning."

As the Dutchman points out, his career has hardly gone downhill but after the big wins he fell into a bit of a black hole.
"It did reflect on me because I wasn't that happy in 2005 and 2006," Tiësto reflects. "I had a lot of personal problems and that showed in my sets sometimes. I mean, what can I do after winning the DJ magazine award for three years, playing the Olympic Games ceremony and having big hits all over the world?"
Good point, but thankfully he's left all that behind and, in addition to falling in love, he's had a self-confessed "great year behind the decks".

So, how does one DJ play to a collective audience of two million devoted clubbers? With the average Tiësto show clocking in at around 10,000 dancing lunatics, if you throw in some massive South American shows, and festivals like Coachella in America where the main stage looks out upon 75,000 people, and Atlantida Festival in Brazil (80,000 main stage crowd), you've soon got a pretty big global crowd building.
His biggest crowd was a free event on Ipanema Beach in Rio De Janeiro, last January, where the rain stopped two hours before his set and 200,000 people came out to party. Ten days later just 75 people saw him play a special birthday set. Jealous? The crowd wasn't short of Brazilian models either.

It hasn't just been about DJing though. Tiësto released his fourth artist album 'Elements Of Life' in April, the CD reaching gold status in many countries and bringing a sell-out tour. He's also got a weekly radio show, Tiësto's Club Life, and found time to remix Justin Timberlake and Seal. His mix album 'In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza' has also just hit the shops.

When we popped round to Tiësto's modest Amsterdam flat the first time he was crowned No.1 DJ in the World in 2002, we couldn't have met a nicer, more grounded bloke - The People's DJ™ as we called him then.
"I like to think I'm the same nice bloke!" he exclaims chirpily. "But nice blokes also make mistakes. I think through the years of my career things have changed so much that you're not always in control of your life. I've lost a lot of friends by putting all my energy into my career and when I see someone from back in the days - a promoter or friend - then I might be a little short of words because I am so busy."
Back in the day he went out for dinner with every promoter and now he takes room service instead so he can keep working.
"When I look back I think things are not the same," he says softly. "I'm still the same guy as I've always been but it's just people treat you differently when you're famous. If you went out with me to a bar and didn't talk about my career but just about other every day stuff, you'd see I'm still the same nice bloke."