Female DJs play twice as many shows as male DJs, study shows

Female DJs are said to play twice as many shows as male DJs, according to a new study from music tech company A2D2.

The study revealed that women may have to work twice as hard as men to reach the same recognition, using data from DJ Mag’s Top 100. Although only 11 female artists appeared on the 100-strong list, A2D2 reports that they account for 40% of the top 10 hardest-working DJs.

“Delving further into the data, we identified that on average female DJs gig nearly twice as hard as the men on the list,” A2D2 revealed.

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According to the data, male DJs averaged 13 gigs in 2023, while female artists averaged around 23. “This speaks volumes about their determination to make a mark in an industry historically dominated by males,” they said.

In 2021, a study from Protectivity found that a disappointing total of just 21% of all artists performing at major UK festivals that year were female or female-identifying.

The report from A2D2 also determined that house and techno were the UK’s most dominant genres in 2023, while German and Belgian DJs were rising in popularity.

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The study concluded that Claptone was the most hard-working DJ in 2023 with 94 gigs in 33 different countries, averaging one set every four days. Masked DJ Claptone has regularly been suspected of working with several DJs to play multiple shows around the world at the same time, and is not in fact a solo artist.

Find the full study from A2D2 here.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Assistant Editor, follow her on Twitte