The Listicle Caveat
Every list of this kind misses someone, and the specific ranking — first to tenth — is mostly arbitrary. The point of the format is to surface ten names that a reader unfamiliar with the current state of trance DJing can use as a starting point. Each of the ten below has a 2026 catalogue or set archive that rewards attention. Listen to one DJ's recent ASOT or Group Therapy guest mix and you will learn more about where trance is right now than any think piece including this one.
1. Nifra (Slovakia / Coldharbour Recordings)
Markus Schulz's Coldharbour signing has been quietly building one of the most consistent uplifting catalogues of the late 2010s and 2020s. Her 2024 album Renegade and the steady stream of original singles and remixes since establish her as a peer to the genre's veteran male producers, with a sound that is identifiably hers — driving but melodically generous, peak-time without being one-dimensional.
2. Miss Monique (Ukraine / Siona Records)
Hanna Voitenko's Siona Records and her long-running mix series have made her one of the most internationally booked progressive-house DJs working today. Her open-air sets at Mandarine Park in Buenos Aires and on the road through 2024-2025 are touchstones for the modern long-form progressive aesthetic — closer to Hernan Cattáneo's tradition than to peak-time uplifting, and all the better for it.
3. HALIENE (USA / multi-label)
HALIENE's vocal-led production work with STANDERWICK, Gareth Emery, and others made her the defining voice of late-2010s emotional uplifting. Her own DJ sets, increasingly visible in the past two years, work the same emotional register as her vocal records — built around the breakdown and the song, not the drop.
4. Ferry Tayle (France) — and her work with collaborators
Worth noting in this list as a DJ-producer whose collaborations with female vocalists have been substantial — Susana, Christina Novelli, and others have shaped his sets and records as much as he has theirs. The credit is properly shared, and any list of women influencing trance in 2026 has to acknowledge the collaborative shape of much of the genre's vocal-led work.
5–10: The Rapid-Fire List
5. Ana Criado (Spain) — the most respected vocalist-DJ working today, her solo Pure Trance sets are masterclasses in long-form arrangement. 6. Susana (Netherlands) — the genre's most enduring vocalist-collaborator, increasingly visible as a DJ in her own right. 7. Christina Novelli (UK) — co-writer and vocalist on dozens of the era's biggest records. 8. Roxanne Emery (UK) — Gareth's sister, now a serious solo voice across vocal-led trance and pop crossover. 9. Linnea Schössow (Sweden) — the new-generation vocalist-DJ whose 2024-2025 work points to where the next ten years of vocal trance will go. 10. Yoko (Japan) — the most internationally visible Japanese trance DJ of her generation, with an Asia-focused booking calendar that makes her sets a useful window into the regional scene.
How to Use This List
The right way to use this list is not to memorise the names but to pick three from it that look interesting based on the description and listen to one full set from each over the next two weeks. Twenty-something hours of listening will give you a working sense of the current female-DJ landscape in trance — much faster than reading more articles. The names matter less than the listening.