Mike Williams

From:Amsterdam, The Netherlands

DJ style:“Future house, EDM.”

Best known for:“‘Lullaby’ with R3HAB, ‘I Want You’ with Tiësto and ‘Wait Another Day’ with Mesto.”

Dutch DJ/producer Mike Williams’s forward-thinking style of melodic big-room EDM lands him in our Top 100 DJs poll for the seventh time in the past eight years. His 2024 output includes a pair of singles titled ‘Could This Be Love’ and ‘The Alarm’ on Spinnin’ Records (where he remains a cornerstone label artist). There’s also the driving, darkly-pulsating single on W&W’s Rave Culture imprint, ‘I Want It All (Euphoria)’ with MERYLL. Another milestone: Williams passed one billion streams on Spotify last February. Yet, this year’s most important moment must’ve been the launch of his Storylines label with the hypnotically bouncy single ‘Alice’ featuring Joe Jury. It’s surely a benchmark moment for Williams as his career progresses.

Some usual suspects of prestigious appearances popped up for Williams in 2024 (including David Guetta’s season opening party at Ushuaïa Ibiza, and year three of Williams’s Storylines event at ADE). But what unexpectedly stood out was Williams’s future house throwback set at Parookaville’s packed Cupra Stage, wherein the Dutchman mixed his perspectives on the future of dance music with a keen eye on its storied past.

Fave tune of 2024?

“Curbi ‘Want My Love’.”

Rising star DJ/producer of 2024?

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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