1001Tracklists has revealed its winning bill for their annual “Top 101 Producers” list, with Heldeep Records label head Oliver Heldens crowning this year’s list of top contenders for this first time. The Dutch producer’s diligent work in the studio over the past year has commended him the reward of #1 — up from #24 in 2019 — thanks to a massive run of diverse releases across both his own name and his HI-LO alias.
The annual list is compiled by logging individual track support from artists across the world. While 1001tracklists’ supply of data is not entirely omnipresent, the lack of support for women producers is glaring. There is not one woman featured among the 101 producers on the list.
Since the list is compiled strictly by available data, bias is not a factor in the creation of the list. However, support for women in the EDM scene is apparently lacking. A lot of this could be contributed to not as much output from the paragons of the female DJ scene, with artists like Rezz, Alison Wonderland, Krewella, Nervo, or Tokimonsta either not putting out much material in the past year or not making “DJ set” worthy tracks, as in the instance of Alison’s most recent single, “Bad Things.” 
Still, congratulations are in order for the producers on this list who clearly made an impact in an overall very tough year for career DJs.
We asked the biggest climber on the list, Nitti Gritti (+49), to pinpoint some of his favorite up-and-coming producers of his own that he loves to spin in his sets.
Papa Khan – Just came outta nowhere with such a sick new sound and incredible music quality.
Voltra – Sent me some of the coolest glitchy bass music I’ve heard in a long time.
Cancel – I’m brand new to cancel but found a sick song off of Subsidia from him! Will absolutely be keeping an eye on him moving forward.
Yvng Jalepeno – Always has the fire edits & mashups. Look out for his tunes moving forward.
Gawm – Gawm hasa OG heavy trap sound that I miss so much. Without a doubt one to watch in the future.
Badrapper – An amazing trap / hybrid producer with such high quality mixdowns.
Maliboux – Just an overall great guy and very underrated in terms of production and musicality.
Jacknife – The dirtiest mid-tempo Aussie I know.
Nxsty – He’s making the trap that almost reminds me of stuff I love making when it comes to merging rap and bass music.
You can catch Nitti Gritti celebrating the “Top 101 Producers 2020” rankings with a virtual Minecraft live-stream on Friday, October 30, making history as the first-ever music awards celebration on Minecraft.
Built by Genesis, the company who successfully produced the first in-game Minecraft music festival called Blockeley to celebrate UC Berkeley’s virtual graduation earlier this year, the virtual Minecraft world will mirror the atmosphere of Amsterdam Dance Event and the city of Amsterdam. The landscape will feature 1:1 replicas of Amsterdam landmarks like Leidseplein Square, Rijksmuseum, and Amsterdam Centraal Station.
The event will showcase 10 hours of non-stop music from over 50 artists streaming from two stages.
Photo credit: @acremedia
