DJs mean Jockeys. DJs are known to be individuals who make it more fun to listen to music. That’s why they are found in almost every club, radio, or tv station.
Being a DJ is one of the paying careers, and many youngsters consider it.
DJs are known to be celebrities, internal stars, and have popular sensations.
Being the best in the Disk Jockeys industry calls for hard work, dedication, discipline, and of it all, you have to be passionate about what you want to do. DJs are known for making any gathering fun and hence have become a focal part of any event.
Table of contents
Who is an EDM DJ?
EDM means Electronic Dance Music and an EDM DJ is any DJ who produces electronic music that falls into a wide range of genres, including house, dubstep, techno, glitch, trap, trance, electro, and hardstyle.
Generally, their music is meant for dance culture enthusiasts across club and festival scenes.
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Do EDM DJs get paid well?
Yes, EDM DJs are paid well. This is the case because Electronic Music Dance is more popular today than ever before hence DJs that are into EDM warm quite a huge amount of money.
How much do EDM DJs earn?
Some of the top EDM DJs can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single set and make millions yearly.
A single gig can get a regular/small DJ anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000. The bigger/more famous ones who are otherwise known as the highest-paid EDM DJs would get from $20,000 to $100,000. The worldwide ones like the top 10 – $100,000 to $2,000,000. The Chainsmokers earn about $200,000 for each gig.
How to become an EDM DJ
To become an EDM DJ you are to follow these steps holistically:
Build Your DJ Setup
- Get a laptop to use that is quite portable and easily mobile.
- Choose DJ software to get you started
- Purchase a quality pair of over-ear headphones
- Select EDM MP3 files to create a library of music.
- Pick out monitor speakers so your music can be heard.
Hone Your DJ Skills
- Get to know how to use the software through song experimentation.
- Practice transitioning between songs
- Use EQ to create better sound in your mixes.
- Study DJs that inspire you to learn from them
- Study DJs that inspire you to learn from them
- Look at online resources for help, if necessary.
Expand Your Following
- Brand yourself by choosing a unique DJ name.
- Make yourself stand out from other DJs.
- Market yourself on social media.
- Reach out to venues around town to see if they’ll let you play.
- Network with people at shows and venues.
15 Highest Paid EDM DJs In The World
The 15 highest-paid EDM DJ in the world include
- Calvin Harris
- Tiesto
- Steve Aoki
- David Guetta
- The Chainsmokers
- Afrojack
- Diplo
- Kaskade
- Zedd
- Marshmello
- Axwell & Ingrosso
- Kygo
- Martin Garrix
- Dj Snake
- Black Coffee
#1. Calvin Harris
Net worth: $300M
Pay: $50 Million
Genres: dance-pop, EDM, electro pop, nu-disco, electro house, Eurodance
Age: 36
Nationality: Scottish
The richest/ wealthiest DJ in the world in 2023 is Calvin Harris.
Harris is a Scottish DJ and a well-known singer, songwriter, and record producer as he is among the highest-paid EDM DJ in the world. He has been a nominee for a total of 118 awards.
In 2015, he was declared the 30th wealthiest British musician by Sunday Times. He earns a salary of $50M.
Calvin Harris has done several singles and some of them that are well-known include “Feels”, “This is what you came for”, “We found love”, “Feel so close” and “summer”.
He has won 32 awards, including 1 Grammy Award, 2 American Music Awards, 4 MTV Video Music Awards, and 2 Brit Awards. He owns the record label Fly Eye Records.
His 3rd album, 18 months climbed the UK Albums charts making it to the top, and was the 1st album to appear on the US Billboard 200 ranking at number 19.
Calvin Harris has peaked the Forbes’ list of the highest-paid DJs in the world since 2013.
#2. DJ Tiësto
Net worth: $170M
Pay: $40M Million
Genres: electro house, trance, progressive house, deep house, future house, big room house.
Age: 51
Nationality: Dutch
Born on January 17, 1969, in Breda, Netherlands, Tiësto is a Dutch DJ and record producer from Breda.
Over the years, he has perfected his art, proving his DJ industry expertise. For this, he was recently voted The Greatest DJ of All Time by Mix magazine.
He has a radio show, Tiësto’s Club Life on Radio 538 in the Netherlands, launched in April 2007. Also, he is the owner and founder of Black Hole Recordings.
He earns an annual income of $40M and extra income from licensing his music and selling merchandise.
In 2014, his remixed version of “All of Me” by John Legend Tiesto won the Grammy Award for the Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical.
In 2018, Tiesto was placed the 8th place on the Billboard Dance 100 ranking of dance musicians.
His single titled “Jackie Chan” was released in July 2018 and featured Post Malone, Dzeko, and Prime.
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#3. Steve Aoki
Net worth: $120M
Pay: $28 Million
Genres: trap, electro house, EDM, hip hop
Age: 42
Nationality: American
Steve Aoki is among the world’s highest-paid DJs and is an American professional DJ, record-producer, entertainer, and music executive.
He is known for his work ethic and hard work, and this has gained him a lot of loyal fans. The aforementioned has singled him out to become the most hard-working DJ on the list.
There’s an admiration that his music is known as electrifying, rough, and with all the fun.
Each might he is hired for an event, he earns up to $500,000, making him one of the highest-paid DJs per show.
DJ mag’s 2018 list of Top 100 DJs shows that Steve Aoki was ranked 11th.
Some artists he has worked with include Iggy Azalea, LMFAO, Lil Jon, BTS, etc.
He is the owner and founder of the record label, Dim Mak Records, which he founded in 1996. The label houses many artists, including ShayGray, Garmiani, Kenna, Scanners, and XTRMST.
Steven Aoki is a philanthropist as he is the founder of Steve Aoki Charitable Fund, which supports philanthropic causes.
His annual earning is placed at $28 Million.
#4. David Guetta
Net worth: $85M
Pay: $20M – $40M
Genres: Electro house, progressive house, house, dance-pop, EDM.
Age: 52
Nationality: French
Born and raised in France, David Guetta is a French DJ, record producer, songwriter, and music programmer and is among the highest paid EDM DJ in the world.
Guetta is a leading DJ in the Electronic Dance Music (EDM) industry and is named the world’s No. 1 DJ by almost 1.3 million people.
He has sold about 30 million single tracks and 9 million albums worldwide, making him a veteran in the EDM DJ industry.
In 2016, he received an appointment from UEFA as its music ambassador for the UEFA Euro, for which his song This One’s for You featured Zara Larsson as the official song of the tournament.
He performed the song in the opening and closing ceremonies of the UEFA Euro tournament.
Yearly, he earns between $20M and $40M.
#5. The Chainsmokers
Net worth: $68M
Pay: $45.5 Million
Genres: pop, EDM, electropop
Age: Alexander (34), Andrew (30)
Nationality: American
Andrew Taggart and Alexander Pall are the American duos known as The Chainsmokers and they are known as one of the highest paid EDM DJs.
The duo has been nominated for various music awards and won seven Billboard Music Awards, two American Music Awards, and one Grammy Award. They have an estimated income of $46M yearly.
They deal with disk jockey and record production.
The Chainsmokers are the favorite DJ duo of some fans and have been active since 2012 but gained popularity in 2014 after releasing the track “#Selfie”. The song made it become one of the top 20 singles in several nations, leading to their breakthrough.
Other singles that the duo has released include “Don’t Let Me Down”, “Roses” and “Closer”.
The duo has won the following laurels:
- 2 American Music Awards,
- 7 billboard Music Awards and
- 1 Grammy Award.
#6. Afrojack
Net worth: $60M
Pay: $10 Million
Genres: Dutch house, trap, electro house, progressive house, big room house, dance-pop
Age: 32
Nationality: Dutch
With the real name Nick van de Wall, Afrojack is a Dutch DJ and remixer. Afrojack started his career at the tender age of 14 and has been affiliated with the industry since 2003. He’s known for record production, songwriting, and music programming.
He’s been known for playing in clubs and arenas, but besides that, has collaborated with pop artists such as Nicki Minaj and David Guetta.
His annual income is placed at $25M.
Afrojack is an award-winning DJ and has won a Grammy Award in 2011 in the Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical category.
He’s the Chief Executive Officer of LDH Europe and has his own record label, Wall Recordings.
He has several track release so far which include “Bed of Roses” (2018) featuring Stanaj and “Another Life” featuring David Guetta in 2017.
In 2015, Afrojack co-produced with Guetta where he featured in David Guetta’s single “Hey Mama”.
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#7. Diplo
Net worth: $50M
Pay: $20 Million
Genres: Electro house, hip hop, pop, dancehall, trap, Moombahton, EDM.
Age: 41
Nationality: American
With the real name, Thomas Wesley Pentz, and fondly known as Diplo, he is an American musician, DJ, songwriter, and record producer. He was born on November 10, 1978, in Tupelo, Mississippi, United States.
He’s a lead member of MajorLazer and co-created it. He’s also a member of Jack U (together with DJ Skrillex), and LSD (together with Sia & Labrinth) and also manages his record label company, Mad Decent.
Some artists he has worked with include Justin Bieber, MØ, Usher, bad Bunny, Gwen Stefani, Chris Brown, among others.
He was ranked at number 17 in the.
He made it to 17th place in the 2018 Top 100 DJs by DJ Mag and has an annual salary of around $20 million.
#8. Kaskade
Net worth: $50M
Pay: $13.5 Million
Genres: Electro house, progressive house, house, deep house.
Age: 49
Nationality: American
Born on February 25, 1972, Ryan Gary Raddon, known as Kaskade in the entertainment industry, is an American DJ and is known for remixing and record production. He is well-known for many hit tracks he has released.
Kaskade released his debut single, “What I Say” in 2001 and was named by Forbes magazine as the world’s 8th highest-paid DJ, pocketing $17 million in 2014.
He has been in the game since 1989 and has released several albums, which include:
- Kaskade Christmas (2017),
- Love mysterious, released in 2006, Automatic (2015) among others.
Kaskade has also been among the nominees for many awards, including the 2017 and 2019 Grammy Awards.
Kaskade is a father to three children and earns $14 million annually.
#9. DJ Zedd
Net worth: $45M
Pay: $22 Million
Genres: house, electro house, progressive house, complextro, EDM
Age: 30
Nationality: Russian
Born Anton Zaslavski and fondly known as DJ Zedd, he is a specialist in Electronic Dance Music (EDM) and is among the highest-paid EDM DJs.
Being a famous DJ, he plays in different venues and produces for artists.
He is known for his unique musical approach and has worked with some of the most prominent EDM artists.
Aged 31, he has a Grammy award and, besides his impressive discography, has one of the best EDM DJ salaries as of 2023.
He is known as a DJ, record producer, songwriter, and instrumentalist and grew up in Germany.
#10. Marshmello
Net worth: $40M
Pay: $23 Million
Genres: trap, electronic, progressive house, future bass, future bounce
Age: 27
Nationality: American
Professionally known as Marshmello, Christopher Comstock is the highest-paid EDM DJ and is an American DJ, record producer, music artist, and electronic music producer.
His remix with American DJ Jack U gained him popularity.
Some of his famous singles, all of which appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 and included:
- Friends
- FLY
- Dangwe
- Silence
- Happier and
- Wolves
This EDM DJ has won 5 awards, including 1 International Dance Music Award in 2019 and 1 MTV Europe Music Award in 2018. He has made it to the nominee list 18 times.
Marshmello has an annual income of about $20M.
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#11. Axwell & Ingrosso
Net worth: $30M
Pay: $12 Million
Genres: Electro house, progressive house
Age: Axwell (42), Ingrosso(36)
Nationality: Swedish
Axwell & Ingrosso is a Swedish DJ duo, record producers, remixers, and music artists comprising of former members of the Swedish House Mafia.
The duo came together in 2014 to release some well-known tracks like This Time, I love You, and Sun Is Shinning.
Axwell & Ingrosso have been nominated for several awards and won Grammys Awards in 2018.
Their annual paycheck is placed at $12 million.
They were ranked 41 on the Top 100 DJs ranking by DJ Mag in 2018.
#12. Kygo
Net worth: $25M
Pay: $11.5 Million
Genres: Deep house, downtempo, Tropical house, progressive house
Age: 28
Nationality: Norwegian
Kygo’s real name is Kyrre Gorvell-Dahl and is among the highest paid EDM DJs. He is a Norwegian music artist and is known for record production, songwriting, and DJing.
One of the records for which he is very famous is that he also holds the world record of reaching the fastest 1 billion streams on Spotify.
At the moment, his income is placed at $11.5 million. His sources of income is gigs and music.
One of the milestones that Kygo has hit so far is the views of over 76 million times that his remix of the song “I See Fire” by Ed Sheeran had on YouTube and received over 54 million plays on SoundCloud. This gave him international attention.
#13. Martin Garrix
Net worth: $22M
Pay: $13 Million
Genres: Electro House, progressive house, Dutch house, future bass, big room house
Age: 23
Nationality: Dutch
Born on May 14, 1996, in Amstelveen, Netherlands, and with the real name Martijn Gerard Garritsen, he is one of the world’s youngest, highest-paid DJs and record producers.
Martinrrix has a degree in production in Utrecht from Herman Brood Academy and is among the youngest and highest-paid DJs in the world.
Martinrrix owns his own record label named Stmpd Rcrds where artists such as Dillon Francis, Syn Cole, Julian Jordan among others, perform.
Martin Garrix’s income is $13 million, mainly from music and DJing gigs.
Martin has made it to the top 100 DJs list by DJ Mag for 3 consecutive years from 2018 to 2019.
#14. DJ Snake
Net worth: $8M
Pay: $11 Million
Genres: Trap, hip hop, French house, EDM
Age: 33
Nationality: French
Known as DJ Snake, William Sami Étienne Grigahcine is a French music artist, DJ, and record producer and is among the highest-paid EDM DJs.
DJ Snake has had affiliations with reputable record labels like Mad Decent, Columbia, Interscope, Spinnin, and Premiere Classe.
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#15. Black Coffee
Born Nkosinathi Maphumulo and well-known as Black Coffee, he is among the highest-paid EDM DJs.
He is from South Africa and has created one of the biggest brands in a world dominated by West DJs.
Black Coffee is known for his unique playing styles and diversity in his sets, and he is the most booked black DJ.
He has an annual income is placed at between $60k and $95k.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
A single gig can get a regular/small DJ anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000. The bigger/more famous ones who are otherwise known as the highest-paid EDM DJs would get from $20,000 to $100,000. The worldwide ones like the top 10 – $100,000 to $2,000,000. The Chainsmokers earn about $200,000 for each gig.
The highest-paid DJ in 2023 is Alexandra Sholler, who performs as Alison Wonderland, is an Australian electronic dance music producer, DJ, and singer. She is the best and highest-paid DJ.
No, it’s easy to become an EDM DJ. It only takes practice, a few contacts, and good marketing.
No, there’s a difference between the two. Electronic Dance Music (EDM) is a genre of music and Djing is a skill used to play music for an audience. DJ stands for disc jockey and is usually in control of the crowd.
The highest-paid EDM DJ in the world in 2023 is Calvin Harris.
Conclusion
The role of an EDM DJ in the entertainment industry cannot be overemphasized as it is integral.
You can easily start as an EDM DJ as it is easy to become one when you follow the earlier listed steps holistically.
Of it all, being an EDM DJ is quite rewarding once you are good at the game. So, it’s all up to you!
References
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