Features
The Top 100 Tracks Of 2016
The records that defined another excellent year for dance music
18 Red Rack'em 'Wonky Bassline Disco Banger' (Bergerac)
17 Skepta 'Man' (Boy Better Know)
16 ‘Freak Like Me' (DJ Deeon vs Lee Walker remix) (Defected)
Drone Bomb Me - by ANOHNI from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.
15 Anohni 'Drone Bomb Me' (Secretly Canadian)
14 Justice 'Safe And Sound' (ED BANGER RECORDS)
13 Bruce Trail 'Bridgework' (Magic Wire)
12 Dele Sosimi & Afrobeat Orchestra 'Too Much Information' (Laolu remix) (Innervisions)
11 Denis Sulta 'Nein Fortiate' (Sulta Selects)
10 Avalon Emerson 'The Frontier' (Whities)
From a throbbing techno beat comes a soaring synth line. A contender for feels-laden warehouse banger of the year, this kick-started Avalon's 2016 ascendancy.
9 Blaze 'Lovelee Dae' (Bicep remix) (Feel My Bicep)
Building on the 2013 20/20 Vision remix, Bicep turned in an emotional banger that caused goosepimples from Dour to Circo Loco.
8 Jessy Lanza 'It Means I Love You' (Hyperdub)
With an up-tempo Nozinja sample and the lyric 'Look into my eyes boy, you know it means I love you', this pearl works as well at a footwork dance as it does in the bedroom.
7 Omar-S 'Heard Chew Single' (FXHE)
The Detroit magus combined an immersive, at times almost martial drum workout with a catchy yet heartfelt lyric for a tune it's impossible to play just once.
6 Isaac Tichauer 'Higher Level' (Bicep remix) (Loft)
Bicep have a special gift for creating remixes that seem at once vintage, futuristic and timeless. This loved-up raveathon was their finest work this year.
5 Floorplan 'Tell You No Lie' (M-Plant)
This break-neck disco-house number sample Brainstorm's 1977 'Lovin' Is Really My Game' and showcased Robert and Lyric Hood's uniquely, urgently spiritual sound.
4 Kolsch 'Grey' (Kompakt Extra)
Brass-powered, melodic super-weapon from the behatted Danish genius, this was precision-tooled to cause maximum devastation on a grand festival scale.
3 Lindstrom 'Closing Shot' (Smalltown Supersound/Feedility Recordings)
Hypnotic, infectious Scandi disco tech with an 80s noir vibe, by rights this should have been as big as ‘Inspector Norse’.
2 Lapsley 'Operator' (DJ Koze extended disco version) (XL Recordings)
Koze's extended mix of Lapsley's muscular disco album cut blew the doors off Dekmantel, Dimensions - and everywhere.
1 Midland 'Final Credits' (Regraded)
Was there a headline DJ in 2016 who didn't close at least one set with this? An anthem from Croatia to Ibiza, this vital combination of epic lovelorn vocal, backing an urgent groove and 70s Blaxploitation swagger, was a big finish for everyone from Ben UFO to The Black Madonna. Midland's masterpiece premiered on Mixmag's SoundCloud back in May, ruled the summer and beyond and looks set to get even bigger with a forthcoming re-release on Classic.
