Female DJs found to gig nearly twice as often as males
It’s sometimes said that women have to work twice as hard for the same recognition as men, and in the DJ world, that may well be true.
DJ Annie Mac. Credit: Charles McQuillan/Getty
Music tech company A2D2 has found that female DJs have been found to play twice as many gigs as their male peers on average.
Using DJ Mag’s list of the UK’s top 100 DJs and data from Resident Advisor, A2D2 identified the hardest-working DJs in the industry today. Despite there only being 11 female DJs in DJ Mag‘s list, however, the company’s research revealed some intriguing findings into how much more they are gigging compared to men.
The 11 aforementioned female DJs account for 40% of the top 10 hardest-working DJs, while on average, female DJs were found to be playing twice as many gigs as their male counterparts. The average male DJ played 13 gigs in 2023, while the average female played 23, shedding light on the determination these DJs have to succeed in a historically male-dominated industry, or proving true the idea these DJs have to work twice as hard for the same recognition as their male peers.
Ultimately, however, the hardest working DJ was found to be a man. German DJ Claptone leads the pack having worked a total of 94 gigs in 2023, the equivalent of roughly one gig every 4 days.
The research also found that house and techno are the UK’s dominant genres in the EDM landscape, with over a third of DJs in the list specialising in these styles including a significant number of the most active DJs, such as Carl Cox and Charlotte de Witte.
It also highlighted the growth in popularity of German and Belgian DJs . However, Dutch DJs have continued to maintain their continual dominance over the scene, making up 25% representation in the top 100. German, Belgian and UK DJs, meanwhile, collectively accounted for another 24%.
