Angerfist Edges S3RL by 3 Points at the Top of the Hard Ranking

Three points. That is all that separates the top two names in DJ Radar's current hard ranking, and only 11 points cover the whole podium. The music is built on excess, with heavier kicks and faster tempos, but the scoreboard at the top is very close.

Angerfist takes first place with a credit score of 877 from 7,869 votes. The Dutch hardcore artist has the most evenly spread profile of the three: 1,099,261 Spotify monthly listeners, 600,873 Spotify followers, 1,120,000 YouTube subscribers, 293,384 SoundCloud followers and 751,697 Instagram followers.

No single platform carries the load here. The reach is split across streaming, video and social, and that kind of breadth holds up well in a composite ranking. The data also lists 7,316 Resident Advisor followers and 213,346 Last.fm listeners, which completes a profile with no obvious weak spot.

S3RL sits at 874 from 7,784 votes. That makes two hardcore names in the top two, and S3RL is the only artist on this podium from Australia. On streaming, S3RL leads the group: 2,742,796 Spotify monthly listeners is the highest monthly figure of the three, and 650,262 Spotify followers and 597,641 Last.fm listeners also top the group. YouTube adds 953,000 subscribers and SoundCloud 138,773.

So why second? The credit score is not a straight streaming leaderboard. With a margin this small, other details in a profile can settle the order. S3RL drew 85 fewer votes than Angerfist, for example. Second place by 3 points is a near tie, and the order could easily flip.

The most interesting result is in third. Sub Zero Project has the largest vote count of the three at 8,169, but lands at 866. That alone shows the ranking measures more than ballot-box popularity. Votes count, but they are not the whole story.

The Dutch act is also the only hardstyle name in the top three, on a podium that is otherwise all hardcore. Its streaming numbers are strong: 1,149,114 Spotify monthly listeners is slightly ahead of Angerfist's monthly figure. The rest of the profile includes 253,656 Spotify followers, 282,051 Instagram followers, 135,048 Last.fm listeners and 54,144 SoundCloud followers. Sub Zero Project is also the only one of the three with a TikTok count in the data, at 105,200.

Step back and a few patterns show. The Netherlands has two of the three places. Hardcore has two of the three, and hardstyle has the other. Each act leads in a different area: Angerfist on overall balance, S3RL on streaming, Sub Zero Project on votes. None of them leads in all three, so no one runs away with the ranking.

That is why the spread is so narrow. An 11-point range from first to third leaves little room for error. The 3-point gap at the top is the margin to watch, and with the largest vote count of the three, Sub Zero Project is close enough to challenge for the top two.

For now, the order stands: Angerfist on top, S3RL right behind, and Sub Zero Project close enough that the next update could change things.