Hardcore Holds the Crown, Hardstyle Holds the Depth: Inside DJ Radar's Hard Elite

DJ Radar currently tracks 275 DJs in its hard genre family. The top eight show a clear pattern. Hardstyle is the main genre for five of the eight leaders. Hardcore holds the top two spots, and Hard Dance takes one place.

That three-way split is the most useful way to define hard music on this board. It isn't one sound. It's a family of related styles competing for the same audience.

Geography tells a similar story. Four of the eight leaders come from the Netherlands: Angerfist, Sub Zero Project, Headhunterz and Wildstylez. Australia, the United States, Norway and the United Kingdom have one name each.

Angerfist is No. 1 with a credit score of 877 from 7,869 votes. The Dutch hardcore artist's audience is spread across several platforms instead of resting on one: 1,133,779 Spotify monthly listeners, 599,245 Spotify followers, 1,120,000 YouTube subscribers, 750,842 Instagram followers and 293,384 SoundCloud followers.

S3RL is three points behind at 874, from 7,784 votes. The Australian hardcore artist has 2,715,960 Spotify monthly listeners, 647,158 Spotify followers and 950,000 YouTube subscribers.

The main story is that hardstyle has more names in the top eight, but hardcore holds both of the top two places.

Sub Zero Project and Lil Texas both have a credit score of 867. Sub Zero Project is listed third and has the highest vote count in the top eight: 8,169. Lil Texas is fourth with 7,988 votes.

The vote totals are worth a closer look. Sub Zero Project has 300 more votes than Angerfist but ranks two places lower. So the credit score is not simply a vote count.

These two are the highest-ranked hardstyle names, and they come from different places. Sub Zero Project is from the Netherlands and has 1,183,156 Spotify monthly listeners and 281,657 Instagram followers. Lil Texas is from the United States and has 2,232,998 Spotify monthly listeners and 349,100 TikTok followers.

Da Tweekaz, a hardstyle act from Norway, is fifth on 861 with 7,278 votes. The act has 1,778,690 Spotify monthly listeners, 350,864 Spotify followers and 341,000 YouTube subscribers.

Headhunterz is sixth on 858 from 7,674 votes. The Dutch hardstyle artist has a large social following: 733,091 Instagram followers, 651,000 YouTube subscribers and 524,730 Spotify followers.

Wildstylez rounds out the top eight at 844, with 1,022,003 Spotify monthly listeners. It's the fourth Dutch name on the list. Its 7,742 votes are more than Headhunterz, Da Tweekaz and Darren Styles received, even though all three rank higher.

Darren Styles is the only Hard Dance name in the top eight and the only one from the UK. He ranks seventh on 850 with 7,231 votes. His 1,806,631 Spotify monthly listeners are the third-highest of the eight, behind S3RL and Lil Texas.

The top eight run from 877 at No. 1 to 844 at No. 8, a 33-point spread. Two of the top four places are tied, and the vote counts don't line up with the ranking order.

Across a family of 275 DJs, the picture at the top is clear. Hardcore holds the crown, hardstyle has the most names, and the Netherlands has half the places.