Definition
Armin van Buuren is a Dutch DJ, record producer, and radio host who has been one of the most prominent figures in electronic dance music (EDM) since the late 1990s. Born in 1976 in Leiden, Netherlands, van Buuren rose to fame with his progressive trance sound and became a global ambassador for the genre. He has been ranked the world’s No. 1 DJ by DJ Magazine’s Top 100 DJs poll a record five times (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012). His weekly radio show, A State of Trance (ASOT), launched in 2001, has become one of the longest-running and most influential electronic music radio programs in the world, broadcast to millions of listeners across hundreds of radio stations and streaming platforms. Van Buuren’s tracks, including “Communication,” “Blue Fear,” “Shivers,” and “This Is What It Feels Like” (featuring Trevor Guthrie), have defined the sound of progressive trance and made him a staple of festival main stages from Tomorrowland to Ultra Music Festival.
Why It Matters
Armin van Buuren is the internet’s favorite DJ to argue about. For trance purists, he is the genre’s last great ambassador: a producer who kept the sound alive through the EDM boom, the dubstep era, and the rise of techno. For critics, he is a commercialization of underground culture: a man who turned a niche genre into a mainstream product, complete with sponsorship deals, branded merchandise, and a radio show that functions as both a community hub and a promotional machine. The internet debates about van Buuren are a proxy for a larger debate about electronic music: should it stay underground, or is mass appeal the ultimate validation? A State of Trance is a case study in this tension: the show is a genuine community — fans call themselves the “ASOT family” and travel to ASOT events around the world — but it is also a carefully curated brand that promotes van Buuren’s own releases and those of his label, Armada Music. The internet loves van Buuren for the same reason it loves anything that bridges the gap between niche and mainstream: he is proof that you can be the world’s biggest DJ and still play a 138 BPM trance track at 3 AM. The trance family is real. The brand is also real. Armin van Buuren is both.
Example
“He listened to A State of Trance every Thursday. He was alone. He was not alone. There were millions of listeners. But he was in his room. In the dark. With headphones. The build-up started. The drop came. He felt it. He felt nothing else. That was Armin van Buuren. Not a DJ. Not a brand. A frequency. A frequency that tuned out everything else. He never went to a festival. He never met another trance fan. But he was part of the ASOT family. The family was invisible. The family was real. The family was a radio show. And the radio show was enough.”
Related Terms
- A State of Trance (ASOT) — The weekly radio show that defined van Buuren’s brand and community
- Progressive Trance — The subgenre that van Buuren popularized globally
- DJ Mag Top 100 — The poll that crowned van Buuren No. 1 DJ five times
- Armada Music — The record label van Buuren co-founded, a major force in electronic music
- Tomorrowland — The festival where van Buuren’s main stage performances became legendary