Who Leads Trance Right Now: Inside DJ Radar's Genre Leaderboard

Trance has always been music of tension and release. It's built on long, patient builds and melodic leads that climb instead of circling. Breakdowns strip the floor back to pads and atmosphere, then the kick returns and the room lets go. The genre rewards the full set and the dedicated listener. DJ Radar's trance board now holds 742 DJs, and it's led by names that draw exactly that kind of loyalty.

All eight of the current leaders list trance as their main genre. Here's how the top of the table looks.

Armin van Buuren is No. 1 with a credit score of 996 and 86,057 votes. Tiësto is right behind on 991 with 53,203 votes. Five points separate them.

The interesting part is how differently they get there. On reach, Tiësto leads on most platforms. He has 33,463,685 Spotify monthly listeners to Armin's 15,167,072, 7,230,000 YouTube subscribers to 6,190,000, and 7,856,510 Instagram followers to 5,025,952.

Armin's edge is elsewhere. On top of that vote total, he has 58,187 Resident Advisor followers, the most of anyone in the top eight. His 2,500,000 TikTok followers are also the largest TikTok figure on file among the leaders. Streaming scale and leaderboard position aren't the same thing, and the top of this board shows it clearly.

Paul van Dyk is No. 3 on 950, 41 points behind Tiësto. That's the widest gap between any two neighbouring places in the top eight. His 14,268 votes and 1,700,000 YouTube subscribers both rank third in the group, and his profile logs a festival count of 252.

Just two points separate Nos. 4 and 5: Above & Beyond's 932 narrowly beats Marlon Hoffstadt's 930. Votes alone don't decide it. Hoffstadt actually has more, 12,195 to Above & Beyond's 11,371.

Above & Beyond's 193,200 Mixcloud followers are the largest Mixcloud following on file in the top eight. That fits a genre whose culture runs on full-length mixes. Hoffstadt has 42,729 Resident Advisor followers, second only to Armin among the leaders.

Ferry Corsten is No. 6 on 917. His 11,299 votes are within touching distance of Above & Beyond's total.

Paul Oakenfold (No. 7, 893, 8,166 votes) and Markus Schulz (No. 8, 881, 7,592 votes) complete the leaders.

Oakenfold's 932,266 Last.fm listeners and 815,745 Instagram followers each rank third in the group, behind only Tiësto and Armin. Schulz's 119,438 Mixcloud followers trail only Above & Beyond's among leaders with a Mixcloud figure listed. It's another sign that long-form listening is central to trance.

Every act in the top eight is listed under one of three countries:

- Netherlands: Armin van Buuren, Tiësto, Ferry Corsten - Germany: Paul van Dyk, Marlon Hoffstadt, Markus Schulz - United Kingdom: Above & Beyond, Paul Oakenfold

From No. 1 to No. 8, scores run from 996 down to 881, a spread of 115 points. That leaves a close contest at the very top, a clear drop to third and real jostling in the middle.

The numbers point to one thing above all. Trance leadership on DJ Radar right now depends less on who streams biggest and more on who gets fans to vote and to follow the long-form side of the craft. With 742 DJs on the board, these eight are a small slice of it. The five points between Nos. 1 and 2 are the number to watch.