Japanese DJs take top spots in the DMC World All Vinyl DJ Championships

The DMC World All Vinyl DJ Championship wrapped up this past Sunday with Japanese DJs Yukichi and DJ Yamagami taking the first and second place, respectively. DJ Traps, from the US, took third place. For Yukichi, it wasn't even his first one — the DJ took the top place title for another of DMC’s competitions, the Battle for World Supremacy in 2017.

This is far from the first win by Asian DJs in the worldwide competition; just four years ago in 2017, a Japanese DJ by the name of DJ Rena took the top place in the main DJ championship. Also, he was 12 years old. Before that, there was the always legendary Kentaro, Izoh and more.

Due to the competition having to be online for the past two years, the organisers opened the competition to a number of new categories to enhance the whole experience and give a wider number of DJs the opportunity to participate and take home a title. The All Vinyl category was a new addition this year.

DMC founder Tony Prince, who also helped launch Mixmag, said, “Rather than sink into the COVID shadows...the 2021 schedule will lead to new titles in many different formats with which we hope you can have creative fun, win prizes and titles and go on to conquer the world!”

The category required participants to upload two-minute clips of their routines for the judges — Crazy B, DJ Slyce, Chmielix, Erick Jay and Izoh — to use to eliminate contestants ahead of a battle between 11 finalists, held on Sunday. If you haven’t seen this style of DJing before, you should — it’s a veritable skill that is a treat to watch.

The DMC, or Disco Music Club, has held worldwide DJ competitions for 36 years. The competitions are a way for DJs to put their skills to the test in head to head battles with big names in the industry there to judge. Its storied history has seen the evolution of various genres of DJing as they have played across turntables around the world, from the rudimentary mixing in the early days, to the eclectic mix of digital techniques we can see today.

Yet to be announced is the winner of the main competition, the DMC World Championship, which will be streamed online from November 1 to December 11.