DJ Mag Top 100 DJs 2026: The Techno Names Worth Your Five Votes
DJ Mag Top 100 DJs 2026 voting is open until 16 September. The techno DJs worth your five votes, from Charlotte de Witte to Peggy Gou.
Voting for DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs 2026 is open, and the world’s largest public music poll runs until 16 September. For anyone who lives for the low end, this is the one window each year when a run of underground favourites can climb the most-watched ranking in dance music. Here is who is worth spending your five votes on, and why the techno column looks stronger than it has in years.
Charlotte de Witte set the marker in 2025, breaking into the top 10 for the first time at No. 9 and being crowned the world’s No. 1 techno DJ. She was not alone. Melodic techno, hard-edged 140 and club-rooted house all landed names inside the upper half of the count.
How the vote actually works
The poll is fully open. There are no nominations and no eligibility criteria, so you can back any five DJs regardless of profile or crowd size. Cast your ballot at top100djsvote.djmag.com before it closes on 16 September at 23:59 GMT. Now in its 33rd year, the count is run in aid of Bridges for Music, so a vote doubles as a nod to the charity behind it.
The techno names worth a vote
- Charlotte de Witte: the reigning No. 1 techno DJ and the genre’s first top-10 entry. Her KNTXT sound is the clearest flag-bearer this year.
- Amelie Lens: up to No. 38 in 2025, with her Exhale nights still pulling festival headline slots across the summer.
- Peggy Gou: at No. 12 she is the highest-placed artist bridging house and the wider club world, and a reliable gateway vote.
- Adam Beyer: the Drumcode figurehead, and the pick for anyone who wants the scene’s engine room represented on the list.
- Solomun: the Diynamic boss carries the melodic, open-air end of the spectrum better than almost anyone.
- Indira Paganotto: 2025’s breakout at No. 36, whose psy-tinged hard techno is the momentum pick for 2026.
The Techno Airlines view: the poll has always leaned mainstage, but every techno name that cracks the upper reaches drags a little more spotlight onto the clubs and festivals we actually live in. Five votes is not much. Spend them where the sound is heading, not where it has already been.
Sources: DJ Mag: Top 100 DJs 2026 voting is now open; DJ Mag: Top 100 DJs 2025 results.
