Home Uncategorized Tech house: the unbeatable top genre according to Beatport
Tech house: the unbeatable top genre according to Beatport
Fisher at EDC Las Vegas 2022
Image Credit: Keiki Lani Knudsen

Tech house: the unbeatable top genre according to Beatport

Home Uncategorized Tech house: the unbeatable top genre according to Beatport

The end of the year is approaching, which means it is time to analyse the 2020 Beatport Review and find out who came out on top. This year streaming was the king, as live events and artists’ fieldwork were put on pause by the pandemic. The ability of the artists and the record labels to adapt to the new reality was determinant for their projection. The free time forced by quarantine and isolation pushed the artists into the studio, and for those who made the most of the opportunity, this was a big year for releases. According to Beatport CEO Robb McDaniels, by July releases had already grown 10-20%. Although it was not possible to experience live music, it was possible to take advantage of the adversity to give a boost in the sale and streaming of new music. Many of the 2020 releases were the result of the present context and nicknamed as ‘isolation releases’. But which genres dominated the charts? According to Beatport report powered by Viberate, tech house remains the undisputed leader, followed by house, melodic house & techno, and techno (peak time/driving).

Compared to 2019, the winner remains unchanged, house moves up two positions, melodic house & techno maintains its place and techno falls two positions. This top 4 reflects the kind of feeling that dance music lovers have been looking for this year and also the artists who stand out. In a year in which the digital window was wide open, those who best positioned themselves in the consciousness of their fans prevailed. This genre ranking was based on the number of times that tracks of a certain genre entered the overall Beatport Top 100 chart and the positions of those tracks on the chart. In this table that presents us a hundred songs that make up the preference of music lovers, 39% are tech house gems, making it the undisputed leader. The best-scored tracks belong to well-known names of the tech house scene like Michael Bibi, Green Velvet, Chris Lake, Eli Brown, Sony Fodera, Dom Dolla, Dennis Cruz, Martin Ikin, Fisher, Claude VonStroke, and CamelPhat.

The lead belongs to Marshall Jefferson & Solardo with ‘Move Your Body – Extended Mix’, proclaimed the most successful track in 2020. This hot tune was one of the promoters of the high tide tech house is currently experiencing and spurred this year’s list of releases. Out in October 2019 via Ultra, ‘Move Your Body – Extended Mix’ is a colourful tech house makeover of 1986’s ‘Move Your Body’ by the house music master Marshall Jefferson. The result? Well, as you can see it was and is a big success. Jefferson re-recorded his house anthem including new vocals and handed it to the British duo Solardo. This was truly a master move. Solardo’s boys James Eliot and Mark Richards took the raw material, maintained the groove and added energy to it. It became a major club hit in the UK and worldwide in 2019 and, despite everything, it remained an indestructible streams’ leader in 2020. Solardo is a synonym for tech house. They represent it and have been responsible for the momentum and good reputation of the genre. Tech house has been the laughingstock and inspiration of an endless number of memes.

Usually associated with lack of taste and Hawaiian shirts, the genre has often been insulted for having too much colour and insufficient decorum. The truth is that numbers don’t lie and the clumsy brother of house and techno has become the favourite genre of many dance music lovers. In these times of uncertainty and darkness, the bouncy and joyful rhythms of tech house are certainly welcome.

You can check ‘Top 15 Genres’ and ‘Top 100 Tracks’ here. Wrap your year in a good spirit and listen to the soulful ‘Move Your Body – Extended Mix’ below.

 

Image Credit: Keiki Lani Knudsen for Insomniac Events

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