The 25 DJs That Rule The Earth

Swedish House Mafia perform at the at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Isaac Brekken/Getty Images

It’s a rave new world out there! Meet the 25 party-starters, beat-droppers, headliners and underground kings who rock the dance floor from Miami to Ibiza. 

Daft Punk. Photo: Marc Grimwade/Getty Images

25. Daft Punk

Based In: Paris

Ages: 38 (Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo), 37 (Thomas Bangalter)

Even though they haven’t released a real dance track in years, the French robot duo loom larger over this list than anyone. Their 2007 tour, featuring a massive illuminated pyramid, set the stage for today’s over-the-top events like the Electric Daisy Carnival, and their 1997 album Homework and 2001 LP Discovery are dance music’s Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road. A new disc is in the works, according to Chic’s guitarist Nile Rodgers, who recorded with the pair earlier this “The vibe between us is so powerful,” Rodgers said. “Working with them was as good as anything I’ve ever done. It’s as great as being in the studio with Bowie.”

24. Cassy

Based In: Amsterdam

Age: Mid-thirties

At her residencies at some of the world’s coolest clubs ”“ including Berlin’s wild Panorama Bar and her label boss Sven Väth’s Cocoon in Frankfurt ”“ Cassy rocks swaggery, superstylish house with tons of classic New York and Chicago flavor.

23. Porter Robinson

Based In: Chapel Hill, NC
Age: 20

After opening for his buddy Skrillex, the young DJ is already a top headliner on his own, dropping strangely heartstring-tugging electro tracks like his hit “Language.”

22. Carl Cox

Based In: London

Age: 50

From his long-running weekly summer gig at Ibiza’s party palace Space to the stage he curated for the Electric Daisy Carnival, the British tech-house don is still one of the world’s most influential ”“ and entertaining ”“ DJs.

21. A-Trak

Based In: Montreal

Age: 30

Kanye’s former DJ has become one of EDM’s most reliably party-starting spinners ”“ especially when he teams up with Nineties house ace Armand Van Helden as Duck Sauce. 

Deadmau5. Photo: EMI Music

20. Deadmau5

Based In: Toronto

Age: 31

Deadmau5 (born Joel Zimmerman) might be EDM’s first true superstar, the way that artists like Lady Gaga or David Bowie are superstars. He’s got a look: a giant LED helmet that resembles a demented, insomniac Mickey Mouse ”“ a perfect mix of cute and menacing. He’s got the lifestyle: private jets, $50,000 blackjack binges, unreasonably hot girlfriends. He’s got the personality: Zimmerman is known for his take-no-prisoners sarcasm, targeting everyone from Madonna (“You want to be ”˜hip’ and ”˜cool’ and ”˜funky grandma’? Fine”) to the majority of modern dance music (“just 120 bpm with a kick drum on every quarter note”). Oh, yeah, and tunes? Deadmau5 has that part locked down, too. His spacey, melodic brand of fist-pumping house has proved massively popular with clubgoers, and he’s pioneered the art of EDM as a stadium-worthy live spectacle. Just don’t ask him to say anything nice about DJs. “David Guetta has two iPods and a mixer and he just plays tracks,” Zimmerman told ROLLING STONE earlier this year. “Even Skrillex isn’t doing anything too technical. And not to say I’m not a button-pusher. I’m just pushing a lot more buttons.”

19. Carl Craig

Based In: Detroit

Age: 43

Even if all he ever did was the 1994 Paperclip People classic “Throw” (so all-time great that LCD Soundsystem used to cover it during encores), Craig would be a master. But the Detroit DJ still fills the big rooms with sets that range from lush house to alien techno.

18. Loco Dice

Based In: Dusseldorf 

Age: 38

Ready to get blasted with some of the planet’s most muscled-up techno? The German DJ ”“ who’s been on a buzzy U.S. tour with Richie Hawtin ”“ is totally your guy. Brace yourself.

17. Todd Terje

Based In: Oslo

Age: 31

The Norwegian DJ-producer gets serious love from both hardcore party people and beard-stroke-y record nerds with his gorgeous, rubbery jams, like 2011’s best-named dance track, “Snooze 4 Love.” 

Bassnectar. Photo: Clayton Hauck

16. Bassnectar

Based In: Berkeley

Age: 34

Former death-metal kid Lorin Ashton sold more than 250,000 tickets to his subsonic boom of a live show last year ”“ after making his name as one of Burning Man’s favorite spinners. “I don’t judge anyone as unworthy, or assume they’re not going to get it,” he says of new fans’ reaction to his surreal sound. “Or that I even know what it is that they could get.”

15. Maya Jane Coles

Based In: London

Age: 24

In just this past year, the young U.K. DJ has become the totally fierce ruling diva of the underground, with a subterranean-deep house sound that is impossible not to move to.

14. Danny Tenaglia

Based In: New York

Age: 51

For three decades, the Brooklyn-based DJ has ruled everything from roller rinks to residencies at lost New York nightlife temples Twilo and Vinyl to the biggest parties in Ibiza. A true New York legend, from a time when New York was the center of the dance-music world, he has rocked soundsystems with the deepest, disco-fueled house and the toughest, most twisted techno.

13. Seth Troxler

Based In: Berlin

Age: 27

A lot of DJs aren’t exactly known for their personalities, but Michigan native Troxler is awesomely larger than life. From partying as hard as anyone on Burning Man’s Playa while spinning a sunrise set for the happily debauched Robot Heart party to lifting the crowd at Ibiza’s DC10 with a lysergically spiked Prince-inspired track of his own, Troxler is a modern Merry Prankster with a killer record collection.

12. Ricardo Villalobos

Based In: Berlin

Age: 42

Every so often a spinner comes along that generates the kind of crazed messiah-y reverence Eric Clapton had in his Cream days. Chilean-German DJ Ricardo Villalobos has been that guy for almost a decade, ruling underground dance floors with tough, funky house and techno spiked with Latin percussion. Fans might complain that he’s become wildly inconsistent ”“ but on a good night he’s pure magic.

11. Richie Hawtin

Based In: Berlin

Age: 42

Whether DJ’ing impeccably alien, minimal techno under his own name or melting faces with his extremely psychedelic Plastikman live show, Hawtin ”“ whose roots go back to throwing famously unhinged raves in techno’s birthplace of Detroit ”“ has become an ambassador of underground sounds for fans of the poppier side of EDM. “I don’t believe electronic music is for everybody, especially what I do,” he says, “but I definitely feel a greater number of people in the population should hear and have a chance to identify with it.”

10. DJ Harvey

Based In: Los Angeles

Age: 48

If Keith Richards was a DJ, he’d totally be Harvey. A libertine Englishman turned California surfer dude, Harvey has been rocking dance floors since the 1980s with his ocean-deep collection of rare disco, Pink Floyd-y space rock, off-kilter techno and anything else danceable. Or as Harvey once said, “You can’t understand the blues until you’ve had your heart broken by a woman. And you can’t understand my music until you’ve had group sex on Ecstasy.”

Skrillex. Photo: Warner Music

9. Skrillex

Based In: Los Angeles

Age: 24

Looking back, it’s hard to recall the time before Skrillex dropped the bass on our collective braincases. So let us refresh your memory: Just a few short years ago, dubstep was still an edgy sound that only people who spent a lot of time hanging out in dank East London clubs (or nerding out on dance-music blogs) knew about. Now, even Taylor Swift has some choice wub-wub-wubs up in her mix. Who made this possible? Big Skrill! The former screamo yowler, born Sonny Moore, decided in 2010 to give his poor, shredded vocal cords some much-needed rest and focus on making sick beats instead. Since then, his fax-machine-assaulting-a-dial-up-modem sound has blown up beyond his wildest dreams, scoring him invites to headline practically every festival this past summer, from Lollapalooza to Bonnaroo. “I started out playing underground clubs in L.A. ”“ not more than 200 people or so,” he says. “I can’t even begin to describe how my life has changed. And I have no idea why, really. I just make music.”

8. Boys Noize

Based In: Berlin

Age: 30

In some ways, the Berlin-based DJ-producer Boys Noize (his real name is Alex Ridha) has taken a page out of the David Guetta handbook ”“ working with artists from Snoop to Santigold and gaining fans from outside of dance music’s underground core. But his serrated, buzz-saw remixes for everyone from Depeche Mode to his buddies Justice ”“ and on his own excellent electro albums, the classic Oi Oi Oi and his new Out of the Black ”“ are way more Daft Punk than Black Eyed Peas. His DJ sets go even harder, packed with tough, pummeling (but still funky) house and techno. “I always love to play jacking stuff and harder echo stuff,” he said. “Right now, like, in the last two years, a lot of the electronic music, or what you now call EDM, it feels too generic for me sometimes and a bit soulless.” 

7. James Murphy

Based In: New York

Age: 42

He might have shut down LCD Soundsystem with one of the best parties ever thrown at Madison Square Garden, but James Murphy hasn’t left the dance floor behind. His label, DFA, continues to release seriously cool dance music that rock kids can get down to (check new discs from Sinkane and the 2 Bears for proof), and Murphy (often alongside LCD drummer Pat Mahoney) lights up clubs and festivals with a pleasure-principle-driven mix of classic disco jams, groovy krautrock and oddball cuts by everyone from the Steve Miller Band to 10cc. “DJing is really, really pleasant,” Murphy says. “It’s like having people over and making hors d’oeuvres.” 

David Guetta. Photo: Naman Saraiya

6. David Guetta

Based In: Paris

Age: 44

No one has done more to make EDM part of the pop universe than David Guetta. The Paris-born DJ spent years honing his skills at underground clubs across Europe, throwing unforgettable bashes like his world-renowned “Fuck Me, I’m Famous” parties in Ibiza. It wasn’t until 2009 that he made his move on the U.S. pop charts ”“ producing the Black Eyed Peas’ inescapable “I Gotta Feeling,” one of the hugest chart smashes of all time. Guetta has gone on to orchestrate megahits featuring Usher, Nicki Minaj, Jennifer Hudson and more. You can hear his fingerprints all over tons of other artists’ work, too: Whenever a Top 40 star starts singing a feel-good hook over a house pulse, they should probably consider cutting this guy a check. Things have certainly changed since those early days and late nights in Ibiza. “I remember going to full-moon parties that were free,” he says. “People would take mushrooms and look at the moon and the stars, and you would have thousands of cars in the middle of nowhere. That’s how it started.” But Guetta isn’t complaining: “Is this a huge phenomenon? Yes. Is this a good thing? It’s wonderful.” 

Diplo. Photo: Michael Tulberg

5. Diplo

Based In: Los Angeles

Age: 33

Diplo is a tastemaker’s tastemaker ”“ the ultimate sonic curator, gathering cutting-edge sounds from the farthest corners of the galaxy and bringing them straight to your radio. Since getting his start throwing Philadelphia’s all-night Hollertronix parties, the DJ (born Wesley Pentz) has made countless major contributions to humanity’s supply of cool-sounding stuff ”“ introducing Brazilian baile funk to America, helping discover M.I.A., getting down in Jamaica with Snoop Dogg when the rapper went Rasta and more. Today he’s one of the most in-demand producers in the game, furnishing beats for everyone from Lil Wayne to Justin Bieber. “I don’t know what I’m doing half the time,” he says. “When people come to me, they just want to sound like something from the future.”

Kaskade. Photo: Sony Music

4. Kaskade

Based In: San Francisco

Age: 41

The veteran San Francisco DJ is riding a huge second act with his Deadmau5-ish multimedia blast of a live show that hit America’s biggest amphitheaters all summer. Playing his own bass-tilted tracks ”“ and collaborations with buddies like Skrillex ”“ Kaskade represents an intensely positive side of dance-music culture. “People know my lyrics, they know the stuff I’ve written, and it’s all about life, love, happiness and these big euphoric moments,” he said. “It would always bug me when I’d go to a club and they’re playing some chick on a stripper pole on the monitor behind me. I’m like, ”˜So that’s not what I do, that’s the other guy.’”‰”

3. Avicii

Based In: Stockholm

Age: 23

If one song sums up the current moment in commercial EDM ”“ a world where DJs earn six-figures-plus for an hour-long set and Madonna shows up in the booth to make clumsy jokes about Ecstasy ”“ it’s the young Swedish spinner’s Etta James-sampling “Levels.” The 2011 tune, which seems to magically trigger a huge, instant serotonin surge, is such total ear candy that Diplo admiringly tweeted, “i h8 how much i love levels makes me feel gay inside.” But beyond the music, the baby-face DJ sums up the scene in all kinds of other ways, from marketing opportunities (he’s the face of Ralph Lauren’s Denim & Supply label) to bringing dance music to grand old venues (he rocked Radio City Music Hall this fall).

2. Swedish House Mafia

Swedish House Mafia

Based In: Stockholm

Ages: 29 (Sebastian Ingrosso), 29 (Steve Angello), 34 (Axwell)

Why is the Scandinavian supertrio at Number Two on this list? Because they’re bigger than Ikea and Abba combined! And now that Steve Angello, Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso announced they’re retiring from touring together next year, things have gotten ridiculous ”“ including a Grateful Dead-like four-night arena run in New York next March. Since forming in 2008, the Swedes have conquered the planet with their super-high-gloss brand of progressive house ”“ combining widescreen, heartbreakingly earnest pop hooks with devastating four-on-the-floor beats that stomp everything in their path, Godzilla-style. “We’re just enjoying it at the moment,” says Ingrosso. “People go, like, ”˜Your job must be exhausting.’ I saw Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel. My job is fucking nothing.” 

Tiesto. Photo: Times Music

1. Tiësto

Based In: Breda, Netherlands

Age: 43

Before DJs were superstars in the USA, the Dutch trance legend (born Tijs Michiel Verwest ”“ try pronouncing that with a pacifier in your mouth!) was a U2-size draw in Europe ”“ dropping more-epic-than-Avatar synth bombs everywhere from Ibiza to the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Now he rules just as large here ”“ rocking festival mainstages with a sound that’s evolved from shiver-inducing trance spirals toward chunkier electro-based grooves. And even though he makes a reported $20 million a year, he’s not settling for the bajillion fans he already has. “Skrillex has a completely different fan base than I have,” says Tiësto. “So I can win fans from him or other DJs. They know the name Tiësto, but they don’t know what I spin!”

This list is from the December 2012 issue of Rolling Stone India.