Martin Garrix has been crowned The World’s No. 1 DJ in this year’s DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs poll.
The DJ’s fifth No.1 placing means that he equals the record for the highest number of Top 100 DJs poll wins — matching fellow Dutchman Armin van Buuren. Since 2016, Garrix has won five out 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.
Garrix leapfrogs French titan David Guetta, who won for 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.
“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,” he told DJ Mag, speaking about his win. “My No.1 worry when I entered the list, and topped the list, was that it could only go downhill from here, so it’s very special we’re back at the No.1 spot.”
It’s been a year of firsts for Garrix. At Glastonbury, one of his favourite bands, Coldplay, covered his song ‘Breakaway’. When he found out they were going to do it, he was astonished. “I got a text message from Chris Martin saying how much he loves the song. I was like, ‘What the fuck?’ And then they cleared the song for the show, and they still perform it in the tracklist of their tours in stadiums. It’s a good step to hopefully working together with him someday.”
Over the summer, there were plenty of banner shows, chief among them his Thursday residency at Ushuaïa Ibiza, his seventh year at the world-beating venue. To play there still feels special for the Dutch DJ, who snuck into the club on his first visit to Ibiza to see Swedish House Mafia, at the age of 16. “It’s such a legendary place,” he said. “The first time I was there, I sprinted in and pretended that my parents were in the restaurant and got past the first security layer, then sprinted into the audience. They’ve tightened the security since then!”
After three years away from the Johan Cruyff Arena, DJ Mag returned to the famous stage to crowd this year’s The World’s No. 1 DJ. The awards show and full sets are available to watch now on DJ Mag’s YouTube channel. Chinese viewers can also enjoy the show on NetEase Cloud Music, the exclusive Top 100 DJs results partner for the China market.
Check out the full Top 100 DJs list 2024 here.
