Being an internationally acclaimed DJ comes with plenty of perks, not least the huge salaries they command for live performances. To give you an idea as to who is raking in the cash by spinning the decks, we’ve rounded up the highest earners of 2018. And, if you play at the best online casino Canada has to offer, you might just win enough to go and see them live too!
No. 5: Marshmello, $23 Million
Marshmello, the mysterious masked DJ and producer, creates bass- and synth-heavy, groove-oriented electronic dance music. Much like his counterparts Daft Punk and Deadmau5, Marshmello, who is widely believed to be Christopher Comstock, aka Dotcom, appears on stage wearing a marshmallow mask that totally covers his head. Despite the fact that no one knows who he is, Marshmello’s career exploded in 2015 when he started releasing tracks online. From there he began playing shows in New York, California, and Miami, and the rest, as they say, is history.
No. 4: Steve Aoki, $28 Million
Steve Aoki is an American producer and DJ who also founded Dim Mak Records, which has seen the likes of indie rock groups like The Rakes, The Kills, and Bloc Party on its list of signings. Rocky Aoki, the wealthy restaurateur, is his dad, he is of Japanese heritage, and currently lives in LA. His career can be said to have kicked off with Pillowface & His Airplane Chronicles, his first official mix CD that was released on Thrive Records in 2007.
No. 3: Tiësto, $33 million
Partly thanks to his famous 6-hour sets, Tiësto quickly became one of the most famous DJs in the world, regularly making music for thousands of fans in stadiums the world over when he wasn’t appearing on the covers of magazines. Over time he has come to embrace a more pop-focused EDM approach and has enjoyed platinum-certification along with a couple of Grammy nominations on the way.
His production albums In My Memory, from 2001, Just Be, released in 2004, and Elements of Life, from 2007 have all been certified gold. He’s a regular feature on DJ poll awards and nomination lists, and has been voted as the best DJ of all time by DJ Magazine and MixMag. Perhaps more so than even Mr Calvin Harris, Tiësto can be described as the archetypal DJ superstar, and stands as one of the most instantly recognisable faces in dance music.
No. 2: the Chainsmokers, $45.5 Million
This production duo is made up of Alex Pall and Andrew Taggart, and they mix together pop, dance, and indie into the kinds of chart-topping sounds that have spawned hits like Closer, Don’t Let Me Down, and Roses. Pall and Taggart started off making remixes of their favourite indie groups’ songs, and enjoyed tens of millions of streams as these were released.
The official debut single for the pair, #Selfie, a scornful take on the narcissism of the 2010s, blew up the charts in January 2014. They sold 10 million copies and got David Hasselhoff and Snoop Dogg to appear in the video. More singles have since been released, including Let You Go and Kanye, and they’ve snagged the No. 2 spot on the list of highest-paid DJs for 2018!
No.1 : Calvin Harris, $48 Million
The ex Mr Taylor Swift, Adam Richard Wiles, is better known as the Scottish DJ and electronic dance music producer DJ Calvin Harris. He’s at the No. 1 spot for the 6th year in a row in 2018, after starting off simply posting his tunes online. Now producing material for Rihanna when he’s not shifting millions under his own name, he has won MTV VMA awards, Grammy awards, and broken Michael Jackson’s record for the most UK Top 10 Singles from 1 album.
