Armin van Buuren

Armin van Buuren is the most decorated DJ in trance history. Born in Leiden in 1976, he started producing in his teens and broke through in 1999 with "Communication," a track that became a defining sound of the late-90s Dutch trance era. By 2001 he had launched A State of Trance, a weekly radio show that grew from a small Dutch broadcast into a global institution heard by an estimated 40 million listeners across more than 80 stations every week. He was voted DJ Mag's #1 DJ in the world a record-tying five times (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012) and remained in the top ten for nearly two decades. As founder and CEO of Armada Music, the world's largest independent dance label, he built an empire that has signed and developed many of the genre's leading names. His ASOT brand also expanded into stadium events that fill venues like the Johan Cruijff ArenA and the Ahoy in Rotterdam, with editions hosted from Mexico City to Mumbai. Musically, Armin is known for an emotional, melodic sensibility — soaring leads, breakdowns built for catharsis, and a pop sensibility that has produced crossover hits like "This Is What It Feels Like" with Trevor Guthrie. He has collaborated with artists ranging from BT and Above & Beyond to David Guetta, has produced six studio albums (Shivers, Imagine, Mirage, Intense, Embrace, Balance), and continues to deliver new music at a relentless pace. Beyond the studio, his cultural impact is hard to overstate: he has performed for the King of the Netherlands, given a TEDx talk on creativity, and turned A State of Trance into an annual celebration that defines a generation of trance fans. For many, he is not simply a DJ — he is the figurehead of the entire genre.