Awards aside, one of the commendable acknowledgments as a producer/DJ is to be listed in DJ Mag—most commonly known for their Top 100 DJs rankings. While the forefathers of electronic music can greatly be attributed to strong European influence, dance music has been growing exponentially in North America over the past decade and a North American Top 100 only proves more necessary.
Divided into sixteen categories, the list will cover a range including Best DJ, Best Live Act, Best Club Event, Best Festival, Best Label and more. Notably, big Las Vegas clubs and large festivals, such as EDC and Ultra, have been taken out of the running to weed out radicals that may have an unfair advantage over others.
Polls are now open for the third installment of North America’s best, so be sure to get your votes in before they close April 23rd. Results come out May 28th. Click here to vote!
Find a full list of categories and the nominees below.
Best DJ
Robert Hood
Honey Dijon
DJ Stingray
AC Slater
Jubilee
Breakthrough DJ
Jayda G
Eris Drew
Justin Cudmore
Bedouin
Attlas
Best Live Act
Marc Rebillet
Chromeo
GRiZ
Model 500
Robert DeLong
Best Producer
Octo Octa
Diplo
Jlin
Virtual Self (Porter Robinson)
Zeds Dead
Breakthrough Producer
Worra
Ciel
Textasy
LSDXOXO
Baltra
Best Label
Dark Entries Records
Tri Angle
Mad Decent
Razor-N-Tape
Ghostly International
Breakthrough Label
100% Silk
FTP
Country Club Disco
In Toto
Jack Dept.
Best Album
REZZ – Certain Kind of Magic [Mau5trap] Zhu – Ringos Desert [Mind of a Genius] Lotic – Power [Tri Angle] Kamasi Washington – Heaven & Earth [Young Turks] Mariel Ito – 2000-2005 [R&S Records]
Best Track
NGHTMRE & Big Gigantic – Like That [Mad Decent] Peach – Silky [Intergraded] Claude VonStroke – Maharaja [DIRTYBIRD] Marie Davidson – Work It [Ninja Tune] RL Grime – I Wanna Know [WeDidIt]
Best Remix/Edit
Sophie Lloyd – Calling Out feat. Dames Brown (Floorplan’s Extended Club Remix) [Classic Music Company] Cygnus – Iaafos Blank Mix (Textasy Dance Floor Dub) [Craigie Knowes] Pendulum – The Island – Pt. I (Dawn) (Skrillex Remix) [Earstorm] The Glitch Mob – Disintigrate Slowly (1788-L Remix) [Glass Air] FaltyDL – If All the People Took Acid (Octo Octa Loop Me into Infinity Remix) [Blueberry Records]
Best Large Club
Elsewhere, New York
Exchange LA, LA
Echostage, Washington DC
Club Space, Miami
New City Gas, Montreal
Best Small Club
CODA, Toronto
Halcyon, San Francisco
Floyd, Miami
Smartbar, Chicago
Good Room, New York
Best Club Event/Series
Prototype, LA
Unter, New York
Piknic Electronik, Montreal
We Still Believe, Nationwide
QUEEN!, Chicago
Best Festival
Coachella
Movement
Lightning in a Bottle
Shambhala Music Festival
Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
Best Boutique Festival
Sustain-Release
Holy Ship!
Elements Lakewood
Bass Coast
Seismic Dance Event
Hall of Fame
K-Hand
Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy
Gary Richards a.k.a DESTRUCTO
Armand Van Helden
Moodymann