Martin Garrix crowned The World’s No. 1 DJ in DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs 2022

Martin Garrix has been crowned The World’s No. 1 DJ in this year’s DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs poll.

The Dutchman is still only 26, having broken onto the scene in his mid-teens via his proto-EDM tune, ‘Animals’, and scooping the Top 100 DJs crown in 2016 as well as the subsequent two years. His great friend and mentor David Guetta topped the poll for the last two years, and now Garrix is back on top.

Having collaborated with artists including Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Usher and U2, his fourth victory takes him above Guetta and his other  mentor, Tiësto. He is now only second to fellow Dutchman, Armin van Buuren, with his five No. 1s.

“That’s very surreal, for me, to be in the list in general — I’m in the list with all the people I look up to,” Garrix said. “I started making music because of Tiësto, and I’m a huge David [Guetta] fan. I’m very grateful for the support and being included on the list, it’s very crazy.”

Garrix marked being crowned The World’s No. 1 DJ by playing a live stream recorded atop the world-famous, 102-storey Art Deco building in the middle of Manhattan — the Empire State Building. You can watch that set now on the DJ Mag YouTube channel.

“It was surreal,” he said of the set. “It’s one of the most iconic buildings in the world, so being on top playing my music was very special. Music has brought me to many crazy places, but this was definitely high up there.

“The view was incredible. It was bizarre. There were some funny tweets we saw, because we didn’t announce anything and people were wondering why at 3AM there was this crazy light show going on. We were initially going to start recording at midnight, but could only start setting up after the visitors left for the day, so it took a little longer. I think we started recording at 2.30 AM. It was fine, I had so much adrenaline from being there, it was very special.”

The Empire State Building has featured in more than 250 films and TV shows, from King Kong — soon after its construction in 1933 — to a slew of classic US action/adventure movies. The likes of Eminem, Ed Sheeran and Elton John have been permitted to perform on top of it, but no DJ has ever been allowed to spin there — until now.

1.3 million votes were counted from 243 countries in this year’s Top 100 DJs poll. Among the smaller territories who participated, DJ Mag received votes from St Kitts & Nevis, Djibouti, Micronesia, Isle of Man, Palau, the Falkland Islands, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Tuvalu, Montserrat, and even a vote from the Vatican City, demonstrating the truly global reach of the Top 100 DJs poll.

You can see the full Top 100 DJs list here.