DJ Mag Top 100 DJs 2026: David Guetta wins a record sixth title

David Guetta is the World's No. 1 DJ in DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs 2026, a record sixth win in the magazine's yearly public poll. DJ Mag revealed the results on the night of Tuesday, October 6, 2026, at its DJ Mag LIVE show at the Ibiza venue [UNVRS], where Guetta also played a two-hour headline set.

A record sixth title

Guetta first won in 2011 and topped the poll again in 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2025. His sixth title puts him one ahead of Martin Garrix and Armin van Buuren, who have five wins each, so no artist has won the poll more often. Garrix stays at No. 2.

Guetta's 2026 included two Ibiza residencies that, he told DJ Mag, sold out faster than ever, and three sold-out shows at the Stade de France in Paris with more than 240,000 tickets sold. In the age of AI, he told the magazine, "everything can be faked, but the one thing you cannot fake is selling tickets."

The Top 10

Anyma, the Italian melodic techno artist, makes the biggest jump in the Top 10, up seven places to No. 3. Charlotte de Witte climbs three places to No. 6, and Vintage Culture moves up one place to No. 10. The changes below compare with 2025, as DJ Mag lists them.

The award winners

DJ Mag also named the top DJ in several styles and handed out its special awards:

• No. 1 House DJ: FISHER (No. 9), once again.
• No. 1 Techno DJ: Charlotte de Witte (No. 6), for the seventh year in a row.
• No. 1 Trance DJ: Armin van Buuren (No. 7), who keeps his title.
• No. 1 Psy DJ: Indira Paganotto (No. 26, up 10), the first winner of this new award. Her sound, psy-techno, blends techno with psytrance.
• No. 1 Hard DJ: Sara Landry (No. 64), the US hard dance DJ.
• No. 1 DJ Group: Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike (No. 5).
• Highest New Entry: Josh Baker, the UK house DJ, straight in at No. 40.
• Highest Climber: shared by John Summit (No. 24), Mau P (No. 55) and CHRIS STASSY (No. 59), each up 22 places. DJ Mag calls the three-way tie a first for the poll. CHRIS STASSY is the new name of Chris Stussy, who switched the U in his surname to an A in summer 2026.
• Outstanding Contribution: Luciano.
• Future Star: Anastazja, a US house DJ.

House and techno keep climbing

In its own analysis, DJ Mag calls 2026 a likely "watershed year" for the poll: more house and techno DJs are entering and rising, while some artists who held the top half for the past decade are sliding down. Fred again.., who mixes house, garage and bass, rises 17 places to No. 16. The Martinez Brothers climb 15 places to No. 28 and Korolova 14 places to No. 36. New entries include Prospa, Cloonee, Joseph Capriati and Shimza. Going the other way, Hardwell falls 14 places to No. 29 and Vini Vici drop 39 places to No. 71.

How the vote works

The Top 100 DJs began in 1993 as a list chosen by DJ Mag's editors for the magazine's 100th issue. Today it is a public vote, which DJ Mag calls the world's largest publicly voted music poll. Voting for 2026 ran from July 8 to September 16. Fans signed in with an email address or a Google or Apple account and named up to five DJs in order of preference. Under DJ Mag's published rules, a first choice earns five points and a fifth choice earns one.

DJ Mag says the 2026 poll drew a record number of votes from 234 territories, but its results articles give no total. It says every vote is checked by its own algorithm, kept secret so cheats cannot get around it, and that artists with a high number of "inorganic" votes face a manual investigation that can end in disqualification. DJ Mag encourages artists to campaign, but its rules ban rewarding voters with things like free drinks, tickets or merchandise, and ban hiring agencies that promise a set number of votes or a position. The poll also supports a charity: DJ Mag invited every artist on the list to sponsor the education of at least one young person at the Bridges for Music Academy in Langa, South Africa.

The usual criticism

Critics have long called the poll a popularity contest. VICE argued in 2014 that the list "allows agents to increase their artists' asking prices", and that DJs spend heavily on marketing campaigns to climb it. In an opinion piece on October 7, 2026, Rudy Cassago of youBEAT called the poll "a measure of an artist's marketing effectiveness and mainstream reach, not their artistic standing within the scene." He also objected to DJ Mag selling advertising that voters see while they vote. DJ Mag's rules say this advertising is optional, is strictly for exposure and does not guarantee a place in the poll.

What it means for DJs

A ranking tells you whose fans voted the most, not which tracks work on a dancefloor. It is still a useful signal of the sounds big crowds follow, and in 2026 it points to melodic techno, techno, house and tech house rising next to the mainstage names.

• Check the sets, not the rank. To hear what these DJs really play, look at their recorded sets. Our style crates list the tracks found in recorded DJ sets, with a set count on each: try Melodic House & Techno for the Anyma sound, Techno for Charlotte de Witte, Tech House for FISHER, John Summit and Mau P, Big Room & Mainstage for the festival headliners, Trance & Psytrance for Armin van Buuren and Indira Paganotto, and Hardstyle & Hard Dance for harder sounds.
• Asking your fans for votes? Read the rules first. DJ Mag bans incentives and bans filling in or recording a fan's vote. PR and ground teams (people asking for votes in person) are allowed only at your own shows, and you must register them at least 72 hours ahead.
• Never pay for a position. DJ Mag says anyone offering a place in the poll is likely posing as the magazine, and that hiring an agency that guarantees votes or a position leads to disqualification.

The vote happens once a year, but DJs play new sets every weekend. To see which tracks keep turning up in them, pick your style and start digging.

Sources: DJ Mag, DJ Mag Top 100 DJs list, DJ Mag analysis, DJ Mag poll rules, youBEAT, VICE.