20. Scuba
A prominent label boss and producer, this year Paul Rose also broke into the DJ big league. He fully incorporated techno into his sets, but it was a barreling, trance-influenced take on the genre: heavy on the melody and big on the breakdowns. As his music has become sunnier, so has his touring itinerary, playing virtually non-stop this year—including his first-ever appearances in Ibiza.
19. Joy Orbison
He's had by far his busiest year in terms of productions, but Peter O'Grady's entry into our top 20 has been aided by his burgeoning reputation as a DJ. There's always some unreleased bomb people are desperate to hear, while his style feels in the lineage of London's greatest DJs, where busy mixing and a willingness to rock a crowd engenders a super-charged dance floor experience.
18. Sasha
"This could be the best night of our lives," wrote one attendee in advance of Sasha's recent 8 hour set in London. That the DJ can, more than two decades into his career, still command such widespread admiration is incredible. But that's largely down to hard work. Sasha has ramped up his label, Last night on earth, and continued to push his Never Say Never brand in Ibiza and beyond. With the next edition of Involverimminent, look for his reign to continue.
17. Ame
It's funny how these things happen. Kristian Beyer and Frank Wiedemann have been at it for more than a decade, but this year they suddenly shot to the top 20 of the DJ polls. Maybe their division of labor had something to do with it—Beyer DJs these days, Wiedemann plays live—or maybe it was just their theatrical style of house continuing to strike a chord. In any case, Âme have hit their stride more than ever, and it shows.
15. Tini
German DJ tINI enters our top 20 for the first time this year. We made the point in 2011 that she'd begun to step out "from the lengthy shadow of Desolat label boss Loco Dice"—and never was this more apparent in 2012. tINI's name increasingly appeared apart from the label as a headliner in her own right, due in no uncertain terms to her command of seductively composed percussive house music.
13. Eats Everything
A few years ago, Eats Everything was close to giving music up and becoming a builder. Now he's 2012's highest debut entrant in the RA DJ poll. It's not hard to understand why. The Bristol-based DJ and producer built his meteoric rise on crowd-pleasing sets at numerous summer festivals. With a new label in the offing for 2013, look for his bouncy, low-end heavy take on house music to continue to make waves.
11. Marco Carola
It was a year of change in Ibiza, and few were bigger than Marco Carola leaving Cocoon for his own night at Amnesia. The Italian DJ and producer's move may have looked risky at first, but by the end of the summer season it became clear that it was anything but: Carola's fanbase is among the most loyal in electronic music and they packed the mega-club (and various venues around the world) to hear him spin.
09. Tale Of Us
Tale of Us haven't released anything outside of a few remixes this year, yet here they are. Their return to the top 20 is a testament to the strength of their pop-savvy selections (and ridiculous work ethic). With over 100 tracks apparently sitting in the archive, God help us all when the Italian duo truly make their conquering move.
07. Loco Dice
At this year's Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Loco Dice played early in the day on one of the festival's smaller stages (speaking very relatively here). This didn't stop him from absolutely banging it out. It also didn't stop the crowd from eating up every minute of it. This is what makes him unique—an ability to make blistering house and techno sound totally appropriate wherever he plays.
05. Ben Klock
Arguably Berghain's most recognizable face, Ben Klock's unprecedentedly hectic touring schedule (including multiple trips to America) and a prominent mix for the Fabric series meant that his reach extended not only to new places but new audiences alike. With his ear for slinky house-influenced techno and penchant for marathon sets, it's not hard to see how he ended up so high in this year's poll.
03. Dixon
Whether on the terrace at Space, in a packed-to-the-gills Panorama Bar or at Boiler Room (where he gave the world its first taste of "Howling"), Dixon showed no one raises heart rates quite like he does. So it's no wonder even in a year when the Innervisions boss didn't release a commercial mix or more than a handful of remixes, he landed his highest spot on this poll yet.
16. John Digweed
How many DJs can pull off a four-CD mix, let alone one sequenced on the fly in a nightclub? Not many. That John Digweed could—and did—is not only a sign that he's still one of the most impressive jocks in the world. It also shows he's not content to rest on his laurels. And with his Bedrock Records release schedule and gig calendar remaining jam-packed, he's not likely to anytime soon.
14. Marcel Dettmann
Marcel Dettmann is one of those DJs with effortless X factor. Gently bobbing to his records, occasionally flashing a cheerful grin to the audience, generally looking like the bassist in a Swedish metal band, his presence in the booth is the perfect complement to his utilitarian sound. Needless to say, it's that sound that's gotten him where he is today—internationally loved and flagship resident at one of the world's best clubs—but appearing both affable and badass certainly couldn't have hurt.
12. Art Department
A big single can land you some big gigs, but it takes some serious chops to keep them. As Kenny Glasgow and Jonny White continue to fill their calendars with bookings that stretch from Brazil to Hong Kong to Mexico (where they'll be bidding adieu to this "World Age" with their Crosstown Rebels cohorts on December 21st), it's clear " Without you " was the tip of the iceberg for these guys.
10. Maya Jane Coles
After coming up in a big way as one of 2011's most exciting newcomers, it's hard not to feel like the young house producer has taken over the world this year, playing everything from Panorama Bar to mainstream EDM festivals in the US, and mixing a DJ-Kicks in between. The key to her success lies in her pop sensibility and personality—no matter what she's playing, it always sounds just like MJC.
08. Ricardo Villalobos
Have we been taking Ricardo Villalobos for granted? High on this list—if not topping it—every year we've compiled it, it's almost cliché that the guy blows minds. 2012 reminded us why. Packing festival stages and Ibiza terraces, Villalobos is as massive a draw as ever. But with a return to from on Perlon and a celebration of a Dj residency at fabric, he burnished his reputation and hammered home his perennial relevance.
06. Jamie Jones
If 2011 was the year Jamie Jones and Hot creations took over, 2012 was their year of consolidation. The trailblazing agenda set by Jones and Hot Natured partner Lee Foss last year was continued on multiple fronts. The pair scaled the UK singles chart with "Benediction." They helmed a wildly successful party,Paradise, at DC-10 in Ibiza. And their brand of bass-heavy, '80s influenced house continued to dominate clubs on a global level.
04. Maceo Plex
2012 was the moment that all of the accolades that Maceo Plex received the previous year started to pay off: Eric Estornel began to get bookings at major festivals around the world, made his Ellum Audio imprint a serious concern and also found time to start Jupiter Jazz—an electro-inspired project with Danny Daze. Look for the self-proclaimed "inhumanly prolific" producer to take further advantage of the opportunities that his success is affording him in 2013.
02. Richie Hawtin
ENTER—Richie Hawtin's latest large-scale events concept—made arguably the most impressive debut in Ibiza history this year at Space. Hawtin brought sake, black dots and plenty of techno to a series of sell-out Thursday nights at the club. CNTRL:Beyond edm then rounded out one of Hawtin's most relentless years (even by his standards), as he took to the road alongside Loco Dice to spread the gospel of underground dance music throughout North America.
01. Seth Troxler
It was bound to happen sooner or later. Anyone who plays Panorama Bar within a week of graduating high school is clearly headed for great things. And anyone with a personality so infectious is going to get a few breaks along the way. Which isn't to say this was somehow preordained—no, Seth Troxler's steady ascent to the #1 spot on this poll was very much his own doing. With Visionquest, he co-founded one of dance music's most well-loved labels and DJ teams. As a solo DJ, he maintained his underground flavour in the face of bigger and bigger gigs—what other DJs at Ultra Music Festival had Analog Solutions or Anthony 'Shake' Shakir in their bags?
Speaking of gigs, he played more of them this year than anyone else on this list, even with time off and a supposedly scaled back touring schedule. Like anyone with his kind of popularity, he's got his detractors. But as this year's poll makes clear, it's pretty hard not to love Seth Troxler.