Carl Cox wins DJ Mag Alternative Top 100 DJs 2019, powered by Beatport

Carl Cox has taken the No. 1 spot in the Alternative Top 100 DJs poll for the second year in a row. 

Launched in 2018 in association with Beatport, the Alternative Top 100 DJs list is generated by combining Top 100 DJs voting data with techno and house sales data from the world’s largest online electronic music shop. The result, as we saw last year, is a very different chart — with only a few artists crossing over into the flagship Top 100 DJs list. 

“I haven’t stopped since 1988,” Carl Cox tells us. “Can you imagine if I mapped out every single party I’ve ever done? The map would be riddled with pin-drops everywhere — it would be a complete rash of events that I’ve played. It’s been a mad journey. I’m 57 now, in three more years I’m 60, but I don’t feel like that — age is still a number, and I still do what I do to the best of my ability.”

Elsewhere in the poll, we have two more non-movers (other than Coxy at No.1), with Manchester tech-house duo Solardo holding steady in 11th place and Danish romantic techno master Kölsch (and his hat) refusing to budge from No.20. Figure label boss Len Faki claims the Highest Climber gong, hauling himself up 49 places into 46th. Unsurprisingly, given the poll is still in its infancy, there’s been a lot of dramatic movement this year, most obvious in the 27 new entrants. Newbies include James Zabiela, Deborah De Luca, Guy J, Purple Disco Machine, Michael Bibi, La Fleur, Rebekah, Helena Hauff, Fatima Hajji, DVS1, and Perc, who closes out the poll at No.100.

What’s been overwhelmingly clear is a lean towards techno overall, with many of the tech-house and house DJs present last year dropping out of the chart in 2019. With Beatport consistently reporting techno as the highest-selling genre for several years in a row now, and the rapid expansion of brands like Drumcode, Awakenings, Time Warp and Resistance into world-conquering techno institutions, the Alternative Top 100 DJs poll has shifted to reflect this global trend.

This year saw 14 artists crossover between the normal and Alternative polls, meaning there’s more house and techno acts in the Top 100 DJs than there has been for almost a decade. As the worlds of EDM, techno and house continue to collide at major festivals, and more young fans become interested in the latter styles, this number is likely to rise even further. The Alternative Top 100, meanwhile, will continue to represent those DJs who are often absent from the main EDM-dominated list, but as the years go on, they could begin to look increasingly similar. Only time will tell.

Check out this year’s full Alternative Top 100 list here.