- David Guetta is No.1 in the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs 2025, with a record 5 world titles, tied with Martin Garrix and Armin van Buuren.
- Martin Garrix remains the youngest No.1 in the ranking’s history, crowned at just 20 years old in 2016.
- Alok made headlines by playing to 2.5 million people in Rio, a record certified by Guinness World Records.
- Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and Armin van Buuren round out a Top 5 that largely overlaps with the headliners of the world’s biggest festivals.
More than once in-store, DJs have asked us, while browsing for a new controller, who we think is the best DJ in the world. The answer has changed several times over the past decade, and this latest edition has just shaken it up again. Here’s the Top 5 that reached consensus most recently.
The DJ Mag Top 100: the world’s barometer
Since 1997, British magazine DJ Mag has run the industry’s most closely followed vote: the Top 100 DJs. Hundreds of thousands of fans vote every year to name the best DJ in the world, and the result serves as a benchmark across the entire electronic scene, from labels to festival organisers.
The 2025 edition, unveiled in Ibiza in early October, delivered this Top 5:
- 1. David Guetta
- 2. Martin Garrix
- 3. Alok
- 4. Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike
- 5. Armin van Buuren
The Top 100 DJs isn’t purely a ranking of “technical quality”: it’s a popular vote, shaped by social media visibility, recent releases and festival presence. A technically flawless DJ with a low media profile will never climb very high.
1. David Guetta
By landing his 5th title as world No.1, David Guetta joins a very exclusive club: he, Martin Garrix and Armin van Buuren are now the only DJs in history to have been crowned five times. Impressive longevity for an artist who first topped the ranking in 2011, at a time when big room and electro house dominated the mainstages.
Streaming confirms this dominance. On Spotify, Guetta racks up more than 88 million monthly listeners and has surpassed 42 billion streams across his discography, a volume that places him among the most-listened-to artists on the planet, electronic or otherwise. Few DJs can claim such reach (audience reach) beyond clubs and festivals.
His own reaction to the news sums up the mindset of an artist still going strong after more than twenty years in the game: “the best feeling in my life is honestly discovering new music and seeing the reactions” of listeners.
2. Martin Garrix
Martin Garrix remains the prodigy of the ranking: in 2016, at just 20 years old, he became the youngest No.1 in Top 100 DJs history, propelled in particular by his global hit “Animals”. Almost ten years on, he now shares the record of 5 titles with Guetta and van Buuren, proof of a career that has never really slowed down.
The Dutchman built his legend on a clever blend of energetic big room and more melodic productions, all while keeping a stage presence that continues to draw the world’s biggest festivals every summer.
3. Alok
After four consecutive years stuck in 4th place, Brazilian Alok finally breaks through and climbs to 3rd in 2025. A logical rise for the most-streamed artist in Latin America, a DJ since the age of 11 in a family of electronic music pioneers.
His most striking achievement remains his New Year’s Eve set at Copacabana: around 2.5 million people gathered to watch him play, a figure certified by Guinness World Records as the largest New Year’s Eve celebration on the planet. Hard to top that in terms of crowd size for a single date.
4. Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike
The Belgian brother duo holds onto their “World’s No.1 DJ Group” title in 2025, proof that b2b (back-to-back mixing) has firmly earned its place at the top. Regulars on the Tomorrowland mainstages, they’ve built a style made for big crowds: huge drops, high-energy transitions, sets designed like shows.
Their staying power at this level stands out against the fast turnover of trends in electronic music: few duos hold a spot in the global Top 5 for this long without ever really dropping off the top of the ranking.
5. Armin van Buuren
The elder statesman of the Top 5, the Dutchman remains the ultimate reference in trance for more than twenty years. In 2025, he walks away with two honours: “World’s No.1 Trance DJ” and an “Outstanding Contribution” award for his career as a whole, a rare recognition reserved for artists who have shaped an entire genre.
Van Buuren also shares the record of 5 world No.1 titles with Guetta and Garrix, an achievement all the more notable given he did it in a style often seen as more “niche” than house or electro pop.
The kings by style: techno, house and hard
Talking about the “best DJ in the world” across all styles has its limits: comparing a big room set to a hypnotic techno session is like comparing a stadium rock riff to a jazz improvisation. DJ Mag clearly gets this, distinguishing, alongside the overall ranking, the best DJs by style in 2025:
- Charlotte de Witte – “World’s No.1 Techno DJ,” the reference point for hypnotic techno and razor-sharp basslines.
- FISHER – “World’s No.1 House DJ,” the Australian who put groovy house back at the centre of the mainstages.
- Sara Landry – “World’s No.1 Hard DJ,” the figurehead of the hardtechno wave that has exploded over the past three years.
And what if the “best DJ” was really all about technique?
No ranking, however thorough, can measure what really makes a DJ tick behind their turntables: reading the crowd, the precision of beatmatching (tempo syncing), the creativity of the transitions. That’s where gear comes in – a good DJ controller or a great pair of turntables will never make a great DJ on its own, but it removes a technical constraint that could otherwise hold back your creativity mid-set.
Just starting out or looking to level up? Start with a DJ controller rather than vinyl turntables: you’ll progress faster on beatmatching and track transitions. Pair it with closed-back DJ headphones, offering good isolation to pick out the tempo even in a noisy club.
In the end, the debate over who’s the best DJ in the world will never fully be settled – and that’s almost a good thing, since it means the electronic scene keeps producing new talent every year. In 2025, at least, the crown went to David Guetta. Time will tell who challenges him for it in 2026.
