With the start of 2015 just days away, it is time to reflect on all of the great music of the past year. Dance music thrived in 2014, and EDM Assassin had a stellar year as we brought you all of the latest information on newly released tracks, budding artists and premier music festivals. EDM Assassin Best of 2014 is here to give you a quick recap of the songs and artists that shaped the year commercially and artistically, from the dance floor to your car speakers.
We saw the commercial rise of deep house in 2014. Artists including Duke Dumont, Gorgon City and Chris Malinchak brought the beloved sound to the mainstream with their hit singles and reached out to new audiences. For those reasons, they appear multiples times on this year-end list.
All eyes were also on rising stars Tchami and Oliver Heldens. Their big hits feature a different type of sound for house music that some are labeling as “future house”. This sound has caused quite a buzz throughout the year, leading to several similar tracks by other artists to hit our ears.
Progressive house and big room house are also just as strong as ever. Our usual suspects can be found scattered throughout the list, including Alesso, R3hab and holding the title of DJ Mag’s DJ of the Year for the second year in a row, Hardwell.
This year was not only about the sounds – it was about the artists. Martin Garrix was the breakout artist of 2013 with his platinum smash hit “Animals”. Garrix kept the buzz going this year with high profile festival sets and more successful singles. His hard work this year has earned him a place on this list.
I won’t say anything else as I don’t want to give too much away. Check out our list below and see how your favorite artists fared, and find out who took home the #1 song of 2014. Did you discover something new? Every song on the countdown is posted in our Spotify playlist, and iTunes download links are also posted below, so feel free to give something new a listen!
(Disclaimer: This list is subjective and does not reflect the overall views of EDM Assassin.)
(Spoiler) The Top 200 closes out with a stacked Top 10 – featuring huge remixes released this year by Cyril Hahn and The Chainsmokers. We can’t forget Arty, who had a huge year, taking consecutive spots in the Top 10 at #5 and #4. If that isn’t impressive enough, then there is Kaskade, who takes the #3 and the coveted #1 spot on this year’s list. Kaskade had a major year, making a splash by dabbling in deep house with his Redux small club tour and accompanying EP. “Summer Nights” is a surefire sign of his new direction in music, and the mashup he created of his ‘Atmosphere’ track “Something Something” with “Champs” by Moguai electrified Ultra Music Festival and his Atmosphere Tour dates. We also can’t forget our runner-up for song of the year, and that is “Ready For the Weekend” by R3hab, NERVO and Ayah Marar. This is a simple yet perfect progressive house tune, and it was hands down this year’s weekend anthem, a song for getting ready to go out and hit the clubs.
That’s a wrap! Thanks to all of the artists that made this a great year for dance music, and of course thanks to all of our readers that make EDM Assassin a success in getting you the latest on electronic dance music. Happy holidays and wishing a great New Year for everyone!
Did you discover something new while reading this year’s list? You can stream the songs below in our Spotify playlist, conveniently in countdown order.
If you want to support the artist and buy the songs, iTunes download links are provided below for each song. iTunes is a proud sponsor of EDM Assassin.
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Andrew says
Probably would’ve been easier and more useful to your readers to create a Spotify playlist of all/most of the tracks versus linking every single track!
Anyone want to do this for us? 🙂
Grant Austin says
I know Tim will get on this as soon as he has time!
Tim Veiga says
Hi Andrew!
Thanks for your feedback. Our Spotify playlist with all of the songs on the countdown is now available. (Around 7 songs are not available on Spotify, so for those you can refer to the iTunes and/or YouTube links.) Feel free to stream the playlist above and share with your friends.
Thanks for supporting EDM Assassin! Happy holidays!
Tim