Martin Garrix has been crowned The World’s No. 1 DJ in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs poll 2024, during an award show as part of AMF in Amsterdam. The win is the Dutchman’s fifth No.1 placing, meaning that he equals the record for the highest number of Top 100 DJs poll wins alongside fellow countryman, Armin van Buuren.
Since 2016, Garrix has been voted as The World’s No.1 DJ in five of the last nine years, and during this time he has never placed outside of the top five — a truly momentous achievement for a DJ/producer still in his twenties.
To take the crown, Garrix climbed above French titan David Guetta, who has been champion three of the previous four years, and also Belgian brothers Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, who have consistently been in the top five of the poll for over a decade.
Martin Garrix was powered back to the top spot by some huge moments in 2024. In addition to holding down his seventh headline season at Ushuaïa Ibiza, he has performed on festival mainstages around the world, and his presence was even felt on Glastonbury’s iconic Pyramid Stage, as Coldplay covered his song ‘Breakaway’ during their Saturday night headline set.
Speaking about his fifth Top 100 DJs win, Martin Garrix said: “I’m in the list with all my idols — I look up to Armin, I look up to Tiësto. To be in there with those guys is very surreal. My biggest worry when I entered the list, and topped [it], was that it could only go downhill from here, so it’s very special we’re back at the No.1 spot.”
The Top 100 DJs results were announced via a parallel broadcast and physical awards show. It featured global performances from award-winning DJs before transferring to a live awards moment at AMF in the Johan Cruyff ArenA — marking DJ Mag’s return to the iconic stage after three years away — where The World’s No.1 DJ was presented in front of 40,000 people.
The broadcast show, which aired live on DJ Mag’s YouTube channel, was presented by Arielle Free from BBC Radio 1 and featured performances including Armin Van Buuren (The World’s No. 1 Trance DJ) from Ushuaïa Ibiza, Green Velvet (Outstanding Contribution) from Drumsheds in London, and Indira Paganotto (Highest Climber) live from Troxy in London, before connecting to AMF at the Johann Cruyff ArenA where Martin Garrix collected his award and performed a victorious winner’s set in front of 40,000 fans. Chinese viewers are also able to enjoy the show on NetEase Cloud Music, the exclusive Top 100 DJs results partner for the China market.
During the Top 100 DJs Awards show and digital results countdown, fans were invited to support and donate to the chosen charity partner of Top 100 DJs, UNICEF UK, as they witnessed inspiring videos from the charity’s ‘The C Stands for Children’ campaign.
The campaign aims to raise awareness of the charity’s mission to put children at the heart of everything it does. UNICEF works in more than 190 countries around the world to create a better world for every child, providing child friendly spaces, education, water and sanitation and vaccinations, ultimately protecting the childhoods every child has the right to. Donations can be made directly at unicef.uk/djmag.
Top 100 DJs provides a snapshot of the popularity of DJs worldwide. From its humble beginnings as an editorial choice in the magazine in 1993, Top 100 DJs is now truly a global poll that engages millions of electronic dance music fans every year.
Votes were recorded — in record breaking numbers — from across the globe. A marked change this year was a large increase in votes from North America. This was already a principal electorate, but the continent saw a vote share increase of 18% in this year’s poll. Asia, South America and Europe make up the next three regions attracting the most votes. Overall, votes came in from 231 global territories including Samoa, the Falkland Islands, San Marino, Rwanda, Eritrea, Tonga, Svalbard & Jan Mayen, Djibouti, Northern Mariana Islands, and Vatican City.
Looking at the poll results outside the Top 3, Brazilian superstar Alok retains the No. 4 slot, while jumping up to No. 5 is Australian party starter Timmy Trumpet, who relegates Armin van Buuren down to No. 6. Another Dutchman, Afrojack, is a non-mover at No. 7, while the second Australian in the top 10, FISHER, is up a respectable 12 places to claim the No. 8 slot. Last year’s highest house DJ, Peggy Gou, is down one spot to No. 10, with Vintage Culture — also from Brazil — at No. 9.
Immediately outside of the top 10 and knocking on the door, a rejuvenated Hardwell — the World’s No. 1 DJ in 2013 and 2014 — is back from his four-year hiatus with a new sound and renewed energy. The Dutchman is up 26 places to No. 11, as befitting his return to festival main stages. Immediately following Hardwell are Steve Aoki, Alan Walker, KSHMR and Don Diablo, with Charlotte de Witte — The World’s No. 1 Techno DJ — at No. 16, up two places. Charlotte is immediately followed by the Highest New Entry — Anyma, AKA Matteo Milleri from Tale Of Us and Afterlife, who has been playing many solo shows this year.
Other significant ascensions in the second half of the chart include Our House stalwart James Hype (up 26 places to No. 57), Dutch sensations Maddix (up 26 to No. 69) and Lucas & Steve (up 10 to No. 71), Danish techno artist Kölsch (up 13 to No. 78), Chinese-Brazilian DJ Liu (up 19 to No. 79) and Dutch trance maestro Ferry Corsten (up nine to No. 80).
The aforementioned Sara Landry takes home the World’s No. 1 Hard DJ trophy by virtue of her entrancing hard techno sound. Historically this award, a catch-all for all hard sounds, was won by either a hard house or latterly a hardstyle DJ. But the incredible growth of the hard techno sound this year has seen Sara Landry jump above those artists in the poll. Top 100 DJs mainstays such as Angerfist or Headhunterz have dropped out of the 100 altogether this year, marking the first time since the ’00s that there is no pure hardstyle representation in the poll. Hardstyle fans needn’t worry, though, as the scene is still flourishing in its various international pockets, and high-ranking DJs such as Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Timmy Trumpet and even (occasionally) Hardwell or Armin van Buuren still integrate the sound into their sets from time to time.
Check out all the Top 100 DJs Award winners below and view the full 1-100 ranking at djmag.com.
Martin Garrix has been crowned The World’s No. 1 DJ in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs poll 2024, during an award show as part of AMF in Amsterdam. The win is the Dutchman’s fifth No.1 placing, meaning that he equals the record for the highest number of Top 100 DJs poll wins alongside… pic.twitter.com/5tyCxuCR2v
— LuxenburgMag x Phunky London (@PhunkyLondon) October 19, 2024
