David Guetta has taken the No. 1 spot in DJ Mag’s 2026 Top 100 DJs poll, making him the first artist to win the public vote six times. The result was revealed at Top 100 DJs LIVE at [UNVRS] in Ibiza on 6 October, fifteen years after Guetta first topped the poll in 2011.
The new total puts him ahead of Martin Garrix and Armin van Buuren, who have each won five times. It is a clean record, but the more useful story sits in the size and spread of the vote behind it. DJ Mag says the 2026 poll drew a record number of ballots from 234 territories.
That does not turn the poll into a measure of artistic quality. It is a fan vote, and mobilisation matters. The ranking does not show who sold the most records or earned the most streams during the year. It tracks which acts could persuade the most people to take part in a defined voting window. Still, a turnout spread across that many territories offers a sharp view of which dance acts have the biggest organised audiences, and where global attention is concentrating at the moment.
DJ Mag’s breakdown has Guetta ahead of Garrix, with Anyma rising seven places to No. 3. The same report points to a bigger presence for house and techno in the rankings, with new entries and climbers moving into positions long occupied by the poll’s established names.
For labels, promoters and managers, that matters more than the trophy photo. The Top 100 is one of the few public ranking systems that produces a global, annual measure of fan activation around dance music. A strong result can feed booking conversations, sponsorship pitches and international campaign planning, even if it cannot explain why every individual listener voted the way they did.
The poll also gives a rough read on regional reach. DJ Mag says the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal were among the main European voting territories, while the US and China supplied some of the largest totals. Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia were major voting markets in Asia. That is a useful reminder that the biggest online dance-music audiences are not confined to one festival circuit or one streaming market.
Guetta’s win came after a year of stadium dates, major festival appearances and Ibiza residencies. DJ Mag reported that his three Stade de France shows sold more than 240,000 tickets in total. Those figures help explain the reach behind the vote, but they also show the difference between a campaign moment and a durable live audience.
The 2026 edition also continues DJ Mag’s partnership with Bridges for Music, which supports music education in Langa, South Africa. The fundraising element gives the annual countdown a purpose beyond the ranking itself. The list will keep starting arguments, as it should. Its commercial value lies in the audience signal it produces, not in pretending that a public vote can settle every debate about dance music. See the full 2026 Top 100 DJs ranking.
Read more on Hitboard Music.
Photo by Mihnea Golea from Gigxels