2016: Carl Cox crowned the king of dance music

A month later he was bidding farewell at the official Space closing party. “This is not normal,” he emotionally announced at the start, later bringing tears to the dancefloor with the last track of the club’s 27-year history. With his final full season came a Mixmag cover in June and a Thursday night party in fabric’s Room One, a joyous set of house and techno classics, and an In Session packed full of nasty-edged tech tracks from his and Jon Rundell’s label Intec Digital, a label he’s looking to be more hands-on with next year.

By the end of this year, he’d have totalled 59 gigs, clocking up air miles all around the world, including Sydney, Peru and Dubai. Not bad for a 54-year-old. Glastonbury got him back for the first time in three years, he launched his own festival, Pure, in Australia and he even played the House of Commons, rounding off with a documentary dedicated to him that aired on Channel 4. Pretty amazing for an early champion of acid house, once a wide-smiled menace for the British government. He’s gone from playing Danny Rampling’s club Shoom and knocking out hardcore at Fantazia in the late 80s and early 90s to hosting Carl Cox & Friends at Ultra Music Festival in Miami for the 12th year. He might be slowing down in Ibiza next year, playing “about three to four parties on the island”, but 2017’s already taking shape with bookings at The BPM Festival in Mexico and The Social Festival in Bogota, Colombia, as well as four dates in Australia for Pure. What did we tell you? He’s far from retired.

It’s really no surprise that Dr Dre, Naomi Campbell and P Diddy are fans, as revealed by the man himself, and that 17 million listeners now tune in to his weekly Global Radio show. And that MBE for him that’s the subject of a petition? Prince Charles will be handing it over real soon, no doubt. From the future King of England to Carl Cox, undisputed king of dance music.

Dave Turner is Mixmag's Digital News Editor. He won't sleep until Carl gets that MBE