FEATURE:
The Digital Mixtape
IN THIS PHOTO: Belgian D.J. and producer Amelie Lens releases her debut album, AURA, on 4th September/PHOTO CREDIT: Amelie Lens
2026 D.J. Queens
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QUITE recently…
IN THIS PHOTO: Olive F/PHOTO CREDIT: Olive F
I have saluted some amazing D.J.s. All phenomenal women. These queens of the decks. Including Carly Wilford and Olive F, these incredible talents also put out their own music. I wanted to bring together music from D.J. queens of 2026 (not all the tracks will be from tis year; some are from last year; the odd track with a male collaborator). In terms of gender equality across Electronic music, there is still a way to go. Female D.J.s still under-represented. The playing field not being level yet. DJ Mag highlighted a recent report that shows there is a lot of work to be done. The industry needs to do more to ensure that there is faster and bigger steps towards equality. Something that applies right across the industry:
“Findings from a new report unveiled at the International Music Summit (IMS) suggest that female DJs account for only 15% of AlphaTheta users.
The statistics, published in the annual IMS Electronic Music Business Report, which assesses the current state of the global electronic music industry, indicate that this is an increase of 2% from 2023's 13% and 1% from 2024's 14%.
The IMS report — which did not account for non-binary or gender non-conforming DJs in its statistics – has been authored by MIDiA Research’s Mark Mulligan and draws on AlphaTheta’s account data to highlight the gender disparity.
Alongside the stats, Mulligan wrote: "Female DJs are accounting for an increasingly large share of headliner slots but there is still a long way to go for the wider base of DJs. AlphaTheta's registered userbase shows that females are growing their share every year, but the pace of change is still slow. Female DJs now have more role models than ever, but the industry needs to do more to unwind decades of ingrained behaviours and biases to ensure there is a truly level playing field."
Elsewhere in the 12th edition of the annual report, it was revealed that the global electronic music industry grew overall by 7% in 2025, going up from $14.2 billion in 2024 to its current value of $15.1 billion. Download a free copy of the annual IMS Electronic Music Business Report here.
AlphaTheta, the parent company of Pioneer DJ, launched its Equal Beats podcast in 2025, which aims to celebrate "the women and non-binary people driving electronic music forward". Podcast guests so far have included Sama’ Abdulhadi, Lady Shaka and more. It's part of the company's wider Equal Beats mission to "champion diversity and create a more inclusive electronic music community".
The long-standing issue of gender diversity across club and festival line-ups in the UK continues to inspire action, with UK collective NOT BAD FOR A GIRL (NBFG) publishing an open letter earlier this year. The collective's research looked at the line-ups for two major UK festivals due to take place in 2026, and found that the bookings for one festival were made up of 80% male acts.
“If you’d asked us early on to predict when there’d finally be 50/50 representation, we would have said hopefully by 2030. Here we are, and we’re further from that goal than ever,” the group wrote in the letter. “Female artists prove their worth time and time again — engaging huge fanbases, dominating awards shows and contributing to billion-pound live revenues in the UK — yet line-up diversity is getting worse.”
“Diversity is not a trend or a bonus,” the letter continued, “it is fundamental to creativity, community and fairness.”
Meanwhile, the Missing Voices of Women “mini-report”, published around the time of the 2026 GRAMMYs in February, revealed that female recipients took home less than a quarter of awards at the this year's ceremony. Significantly, between 2017 and 2026, women accounted for approximately one in five GRAMMY nominations and wins”.
I am going to end with a mixtape of incredible tracks from some of the best female D.J.s. I have said before how there should be a massive festival exclusively featuring women. Amazing D.J.s across the world combining for this wonderful festival that spans multiple genres. Whilst many play tracks from other artists, there are those that write and produce their own music. I have included songs from some of the best D.J.s in the world. It is angering that there is still massive gender inequality and sexism. Reiterating the urgency that…
IN THIS PHOTO: Carly Wilford/PHOTO CREDIT: Carly Wilford
MORE needs to be done.