In the electronic music world, DJ Mag is the absolute authority when it comes to the world’s best DJs. The fans do the voting, and I have been voting for 6 years straight. To be honest, I felt more anxious about these votes more than the Lebanese elections… Why? Because of David Guetta’s sweeping success, but huge compromise when it comes to electronic music.

The pop-star DJ became a mere tune-maker for RnB and Pop singers, a disappointing, though very smart move from his part. The niches of music listeners who did not know that it’s 2010 and it’s not just ‘techno’ anymore, have discovered that indeed computers and machines are far better than guitars and drums… But, like the early Christians adopted 25 December as Christmas so converted pagans won’t have a major cultural shock, guetta adopted stuff from the grotesquely commercial, grammy-infested culture to introduce his music, most notably into the electronically-illiterate US.

My fear was a genuine one that Guetta would get the title because of so much craze from newbie EDMers. I was sad, that the only ‘real’ music genre left was about to be ‘polluted’. Now, I’m ashamed to have felt that way, for EDMers all over the world have proven that taste and passion still exist, and ARMIN VAN BUUREN has become the only human to be crowned world’s number 1 DJ for FOUR years in a row.

Armin’s message after he won:

You can vote for your five favorite DJs, and my vote for this year was the following:

1- Armin van Buuren – still #1

2- Deadmau5 – up 2 places to #4

3- James Zabiela – disappointing 11 place drop to #49

4- Fady Ferraye – #235 =D

Upon further inspection, one notices a considerable change in the traditional top 100. Names like Gareth Emery and Axwell have cemented themselves in the top 10, and traditional heavyweights like Sasha (27), Digweed (29) and Carl Cox (22) have dropped considerably after having been in the top spot and top 10 for years. Daft Punk have also fallen 11 whole places to become number 44.

The biggest fall though was the Thrillseekers, dropping down 41 places to #98 and second worst are Justice with 34 places lost to become #99.

Paul Oakenfold and Dubfire are two names that also fell sharply, tieing for the 3rd worst fall, 28 places to become #51 and #74 respectively.

One oddity is how ATB and Paul van Dyk cling to their top 20 spots despite virtually being dead. Laidback Luke, Sebastian Ingrosso and Dash Berlin have also all made it to the top 20, with number 20 being our own Arab Aly & Fila.

Beyond the 100:

Funkagenda 144
Yahel 146
Steve Lawler 118
Jerome Isma-ae 120
Tocadisco 121
David Vendetta 122
Sander Kleinenberg 167
First State 174
Danny Tenaglia 192

Fady Ferraye 235

Danny Howells 294
Nic Chagall 311
Nick Warren 353
Wippenberg 361
Glenn Morrisson 379
Satoshi Tomiie 393
Timo Maas 459
Said Mrad 11462

Check out the full list here =)

The KING and the runner-up’s calls for fans to vote =P