Over the years, Diplo's relationship with this (publicly voted) poll has been a tad shaky to say the least. There was his conspicuous absence from it until last year (not our fault), preceded by his appearance in Rolling Stone's writers' choice poll named 'DJs That Rule the Earth' in 2012, which quickly prompted him to take to Twitter to point out the difference in circulation figures between our niche, dance music specialist magazine with the other publication in question; a San Fran institution set up to cover all walks of popular music since 1969. Sour grapes, was it, Dippy?

Twitter spats aside, his refusal to answer Top 100 questions in 2013 has been followed by a subsequent spurning of our advances again this time around. He's too busy for press requests, they say.

Regardless, there's no denying his inclusion in any DJ hall of fame is warranted. From the nimble-fingered turntablism of his 'Fabric Live 24' mix in 2005 — still up there in our Top 5 of the rightly revered series — to his production work with M.I.A and the Notting Hill Carnival-bothering sounds of Major Lazer, Diplo rose like a phoenix from the underground to become one of the most powerful personalities in modern pop music.

As an A&R, he's catalysed the US dance scene with his diversely vibrant and rambunctious Mad Decent brand, championing trap — its potent virility demonstrated by the viral success of Baauer's 'Harlem Shake' last year — as well as ghetto house and moombahton, changing the face of EDM in the process. Last time we saw him he was zorbing over a crowd to the larger-than-life drops of Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike in Iceland.

Over the past 18 months alone, he's worked with the likes of Usher, Britney Spears and Justin Bieber, to name only a few. For a man accused of shady misappropriation of musical ideas, he's certainly not short of creativity. Rising further up the poll in 2014, Diplo isn't going anywhere.