DJs are an integral part of the music industry, performing pre-recorded music for the masses. There are many different types of DJs including radio DJs, club DJs, and turntablists. Typically DJs play two or more sources of music concurrently so that they can mix the sounds together, to create a whole new blended tune. DJs use specialist equipment and will often have the best DJ controller, headphones, mixers, and turntables to help create their sound.
Whilst anyone can become a DJ, it takes a specialist musical talent to make their way to the top of the industry. DJs are the modern-day rockstars, with major stars making world tours, and appearing at the biggest festivals and clubs across the globe. But who is the most legendary DJ of all time, and which DJs are having the biggest influence today?
By taking a deep dive into the data surrounding the most popular DJs’ song successes, social media followings, and Google searches we are able to reveal the world’s most influential DJs.
The Best DJs in the World
1. David Guetta - total DJ score of 9.41/10
The most influential DJ in the world is Frenchman David Guetta. Guetta rose to prominence in 2009 when he released the album ‘One Love’, and he has gone from strength to strength ever since. He has been rewarded for his work, winning two Grammy awards and has three times been voted the number one DJ by DJ Mag. There are over 71 million monthly listeners to David Guetta on Spotify, and he has over 5 million followers on TikTok.
2. Alan Walker - total DJ score of 9.38/10
From Northampton to Norway, Alan Walker is a British-born Norwegian DJ who is taking the world by storm. Walker gained fame on YouTube, where he currently has 43 million subscribers, a success story made even more extraordinary as Walker taught himself to DJ by following tutorials on the video-sharing platform. He has a big following on both TikTok and Instagram, and his single ‘Faded’ has almost 1.7 billion plays on Spotify.
3. Marshmello - total DJ score of 9.33/10
Chris Comstock, also known as Marshmello has rocketed to stardom with collaborations with artists such as Selena Gomez, Khalid, and Bastille. His biggest single, ‘Happier’ has more than 1.8 billion plays on Spotify, but it’s his huge social following that puts him in third place. With nearly 30 million Instagram followers and 27.4 million TikTok followers, Marshmello is the most successful DJ on social media.
4. Calvin Harris - total DJ score of 9.12/10
Scottish superstar Calvin Harris is the fourth most influential DJ, and a successful singer-songwriter. Just like David Guetta, Harris’s big break came in the late noughties when he released the album ‘I Created Disco’, and he has gone on to be one of the wealthiest DJs in the world, topping the Forbes list of richest DJs six years in a row.
5. DJ Snake - total DJ score of 8.91/10
DJ Snake is the second French DJ to appear in the higher echelons of this list, meaning that France has produced two of the top five most influential DJs in the world. DJ Snake became a household name when he released the song ‘Turn Down For What’ featuring Lil Jon in 2013, but it is ‘Let Me Love You’ which is his best-performing song on Spotify, it has been listened to over 1.7 billion times.
Here's the full top 20 list...
Spotify Stats
1. David Guetta - 71.3m average monthly listeners
David Guetta has the highest average number of monthly listeners on Spotify, with over 70 million, well over 10 million more than his next nearest competitor. Guetta fans can listen to his major studio albums, as well as hit songs such as ‘Turn Me On’, ‘When Love Takes Over’, and ‘Titanium’.
2. Calvin Harris - 61.5m average monthly listeners
The only other DJ to have over 60 million average monthly listeners is Calvin Harris. Harris has four songs with over 1 billion plays on Spotify, these are: ‘One Kiss’, ‘Summer’, ‘This is What You Came For’, and ‘We Found Love’. Harris is also known for his many collaborations, with hit-makers such as Rihanna, Dua Lipa, and Ne-Yo, earning him global success.
3. Tiësto - 45.6m average monthly listeners
Tiesto is a Dutch DJ, who is regarded as one of the successful pioneers of electronic dance music (EDM). There are over 45 million listeners to Tiësto on Spotify in an average month, this is over 35 million more than the average in the top one hundred DJs. Known for his hits such as 10:35, The Motto, and Lay Low, Tiësto was also voted the greatest DJ of all time by Mix magazine in a poll amongst fans back in 2010.
Here's the top 10...
Google News Stats
1. Jonas Blue - 13.4m Google News articles
English DJ Jonas Blue is currently being talked about in the news far more than any of his peers, with over 13 million results being generated for his name on Google news. Amongst them currently is an interview with Jonas Blue in Our Culture Magazine, with many other articles discussing his new and upcoming song releases.
2. Above & Beyond - 12.9m Google News articles
Above & Beyond is an electronic music group that is currently making headlines. There are currently over 12.9 million results for Above & Beyond on Google news, with many talking about upcoming festival appearances including their own festival, Group Therapy Weekender set to take place at the Gorge Amphitheatre, Washington this summer.
3. Vintage Culture - 7.42m Google News articles
Brazilian DJ Vintage Culture (VC) is the third most popular DJ in the news at the moment, with over 7.4 million Google news articles related to him and his work in the music industry. It is believed that VC is about to drop his debut album and it’s clear the music press is super hyped about it.
Here's the top 10...
Instagram Stats
1. Marshmello - 29.9m Instagram followers
With just short of 30 million Instagram followers, Marshmello is the most popular DJ on the social media platform. His star-studded collaborations have no doubt garnered him an impressive following and his regular content featuring his signature marshmallow-like headgear has helped him to continue to build that following.
2. Alok - 28.1m Instagram followers
Alok is the second most popular DJ on Instagram. He has almost 28.1 million followers, roughly 1.7 million fewer followers than 1st place DJ, Marshmello. Alok’s biggest hit is ‘Here Me Now’, a party anthem featuring Bruno Martini and Zeeba, which made the top 40 charts in over 20 countries.
3. Gianluca Vacchi - 22.7m Instagram followers
Gianluca Vacchi is an unusual entry into the rankings as he found success and made his fortune before beginning his DJ-ing career. This Italian playboy’s party lifestyle led him to find a successful career as a DJ, now boasting nearly 52 million Spotify plays of his top song, ‘LOVE’.
TikTok Stats
1. Marshmello - 27.4m TikTok followers
As the DJ with the largest Instagram following, it should come as no surprise that Marshmello’s TikTok following is just as impressive. Ruling social media, this DJ can certainly be labelled as influential with 27.4 million followers on TikTok.
2. Gianluca Vacchi - 21.7m TikTok followers
Just as with Instagram, Gianluca Vacchi isn’t far behind with TikTok followers, boasting 21.7 million on the platform. This Italian DJ uses his account to show off the luxuries of his lavish lifestyle as well as clips of family life, and, of course, his musical talents.
3. Alok - 12.8m TikTok followers
Alok is another DJ who rules social media with an impressive following across both platforms. Alok has almost 13 million followers on the video-sharing app, which is almost double the next highest-performing DJ. Alok is considered an icon in his native Brazil. In 2014 and 2015 he was voted the ‘Best DJ in Brazil and is currently the only Brazilian in DJ Mag’s top 100 DJs.
Methodology
A list of the most prominent DJs around the world was created from various articles including DJ Mag and Zillion FM. We then cut down this list of over 200 DJs by taking only the 100 with the highest number of Instagram followers.
We then looked at the following factors in order to discover which DJs are most influential:
- Spotify monthly listeners and top song plays were taken directly from Spotify, though it should be noted that these numbers are not static so will change over time.
- The number of Google searches was discovered by using Google Keyword Planner to find the total number of searches for each DJ around the world in 2022. In some cases, more context was needed for DJs to ensure results weren’t skewed by unrelated searches. In these cases, the word DJ or music was added to the search term.
- The number of Google News Articles was discovered by using the search terms for each DJ as used for Google searches and searching on Google News. The number of articles was collated for each.
- The total number of Instagram and TikTok followers was found on each DJ’s page.
- Finally, we used a ranking system, giving a normalised score out of 10 to each DJ for each factor. An average of each of those scores was then taken to give their overall DJ Score out of 10.