Nicky Romero

From:The Netherlands

DJ style:“Electronic dance music, progressive.”

Best known for: “’I Could Be The One’ with Avicii, and my record label Protocol Recordings.”

On New Year’s Eve last year, Nicky Romero laid out his plans for 2024 in an Instagram post: “I’m excited about releasing a wave of new music, some insane collabs, playing live instruments on stage, and also playing lots of Mario Kart,” he wrote. While his hours clocked on Rainbow Road remain undisclosed, he’s certainly followed through on those first two plans. The Dutch star — who’s celebrating his 12th consecutive year in the Top 100 DJs poll — kicked things off in January with ‘Tomorrow Comes’ alongside Deniz Koyu and Jaimes, which he followed up with singles ‘All Night Long’, ‘In My Head’ and ‘Take Me Home’ featuring Monocule and Joe Jury.

More big singles have come throughout the year, including his remix of Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding’s trance banger ‘Miracle’, and Kygo’s ‘For Life’. All the while, Romero’s toured almost constantly, bringing his “progressive house is back” mantra to annual favourites like Ultra Miami, Tomorrowland and Untold, along with many more clubs and festivals across the globe. A sweet moment happened on home turf in August though, when he brought his parents out on stage at Mysteryland in Amsterdam.

Fave tune of 2024:

“Adam Port, Stryv, Keinemusik ‘Move’.”

Rising star DJ/producer o

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Faustix

From:Denmark

DJ style: “Big techno.”

Best known for: “Collaboration with Diplo, Faustix, Imanos and Kai called ‘Revolution’.”

Everything about 2024 was big and bold for Faustix. The Danish dance music lifer found a new sound over the course of the past year, where ropey and dramatic arpeggios dart in and out of brash techno kicks and every drop feels like barreling down a dopamine rollercoaster. Each release seemed to push the envelope further and further — from the soaring emotions of ‘Lead Me To Love You’ with vocalist Mougleta to ‘All My Friends Are Hot’, whose cheeky vocal flip (“All my friends are hot and only listen to techno”) was the perfect summer festival anthem. Add to that a teased remix of Belgian Stromae ‘Alors on danse’ and it’s clear that 2024 was, without a doubt, the year Faustix found a whole new groove.

While he’s certainly been busy in the studio, Faustix has also played everywhere — from 13,000 person raves in the middle of Copenhagen to gigs on the Faroe Islands. Faustix, in other words, hasn’t taken his foot off the gas for even a second. And, with each gig and release, he is testament to how much people still love pumping, hard-edged techno.

Fave tune of 2024?

“Dash Berlin ‘Till The Sky Falls Down’, it’s an all-time classic and still gets me