Armin van Buuren’s 10 Most Notable Music Tracks

Armin van Buuren is a world-renowned dance music DJ, record producer, remixer, and label owner from Leiden, South Holland, in the Netherlands. Throughout his 25-year EDM and trance-music career, Armin has won 12 DJ Awards, 27 International Dance Music Awards, and been named the number one DJ of the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs poll five times, four times in a row. Armin became the fourth trance artist to receive a Grammy nomination for his 2014 single “This Is What It Feels Like,” featuring Trevor Guthrie.

Known for his “Armin Only” world tours, he has performed for the newly crowned king and queen of the Netherlands. The notable DJ is also the first solo dance artist to play Madison Square Garden. The event sold out in under an hour. Armin’s weekly radio show, A State of Trance, has amassed over 41 million listeners and is broadcast to over 100 FM stations with fans from over eighty-four countries. He also founded the label Armada Music, a five-time consecutive winner of the International Dance Music Award for Best Global Record Label.

In 2001, Armin aired the first episode of his radio show, A State of Trance. Since then, ASOT has amassed over 41 million listeners and is broadcast to over 100 FM stations with fans from over 84 countries. In 2017, Armin opened a brand-new radio studio in the Armada Music headquarters in Amsterdam, from which the A State of Trance episodes are broadcast live.

Armin uses his A State of Trance radio show as the center for everything he does as an artist. In this weekly two-hour show, he announces new music and tours, speaks about the artists and labels he’s listening to, and strives to make personal connections with his fans. Finding new music for the show also inspires the work Armin does when he’s producing. Each episode of A State of Trance offers Armin’s tune of the week, a fan-selected future favorite, a most talked about trending track, and a track accompanied by a story that allows listeners worldwide to be a part of the experience.

Armin’s label, Armada Music (five-time consecutive winner of the International Dance Music Award for Best Global Record Label), is home to more than 40 sub-labels and releases productions by some of the industry’s biggest names and rising talents. Armada Music has become one of the most musically diverse record labels in electronic music, with over 80 employees contributing to its enormous growth. In 2017, Armada Music was voted number seven in Mixmag’s “Label of the Decade” poll.

Armin is known for many original tracks, collaborations, remixes, and club mixes:

1. 1. “Blue Fear” (1997): Armin’s first major success, “Blue Fear,” was released when he was 19 years old, cementing his spot as a rising star. The track is now considered a trance classic. Armin named the song after the anxiety he felt as a teen when leaving his house during the day because of local bullies.
2. 2. “Exhale” (2001): Armin recorded this riff with Ditch DJ Ferry Corsten for Corsten’s album Out of the Blue. The track went on to reach gold status.
3. 3. “Shivers” (2005): Off of Armin’s album of the same name, “Shivers” features Susana, a trance music vocalist, and was declared the number-one song released during the 20-year history of A State of Trance (as a part of the ASOT 1000 celebration) by the show’s fans.
4. 4. “Full Focus” (2010): An instrumental track off of Armin’s fourth artist album, Mirage (2010), “Full Focus” was met with significant success and peaked at number 60 on the Netherlands radio charts.
5. 5. “This Is What It Feels Like” (2014): Featuring Canadian singer-songwriter Trevor Guthrie, “This Is What It Feels Like” earned Armin a Grammy nomination. The song, which featured Guthrie’s lyrics, was inspired by his neighbor, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor and passed away shortly after.
6. 6. “Another You” (2015): Featuring the vocals of Dutch rapper Mr. Probz, “Another You” was Armin’s fourth top-10 hit on the Netherlands’ Single Top 100 list.
7. 7. “Feel Something” (2020): This catchy dance-pop song features vocals from Dutch singer Duncan Laurence, the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest winner. The upbeat heartbreak record serves as the final track on Laurence’s debut album, Small Town Boy (2020).
8. 8. “Need You Now” (2020): Featuring the dynamic vocals of Dutch singer-songwriter Jake Reese, “Need You Now” was released on Armin’s label, Armada Music.
9. 9. “Leave a Little Love” (2021): A collaboration between Armin and Swedish DJ Alesso, “Leave a Little Love” is a summer anthem of the same name’s collab album.
10. 10. “Magico” (2021): Armin joined forces with powerhouse Italian DJ Giuseppe Ottaviani for this highly anticipated single, which premiered on A State of Trance episode.

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