Is the EDM era now over?

Late last year, I read an interview with Liam Howlett where he said the UK charts were much better now EDM is dead. He said whilst it's still popular in America, it's dead in the UK and that's what counts.

Whilst there was notably less EDM music in the charts than there was a few years ago, the fact Calvin Harris collectively spent 14 weeks at number one last year means it wasn't exactly dead.

This year though, those who follow the charts may have spotted we have a notable absentee from the Top 40, David Guetta. He isn't on hiatus though, he's released 7 singles this year and none of them have made the Top 40. The closest he has got was 41.

Before we go any further though, we need to define what exactly EDM is. In my view, it's basically commercial dance music, made for the clubs and the charts.

Another thing to establish is whether Tropical House should be considered EDM? Well in my view, no. For a start, it's too slow to really be considered as dance music, but also it doesn't have it's roots in clubs like other forms of dance music, it came straight out of the bedrooms of the producers.

We've established there's been no David Guetta in the Top 40, but what about the other one, Calvin Harris? Well yes he had a big hit with "Giants" at the start of the year, but nothing since then.

Tiesto has been in the charts this year, but in reality it's been with pop music rather than dance music. It's the equivalent of Joey Negro giving himself a credit on "Relight My Fire" by Take That in the 90s, but whilst Joey Negro is generally considered to be dance music, it's a pop song. A similar thing could be said of Marshmello's hit this year featuring Chvrches, it's pop not dance.

We are now 3 quarters of the way through the year, and EDM tune wise in the Top 40 I've counted 9 including the Calvin Harris one. We also have "Breathe" by Camelphat ft Cristoph & Jem Cooke and "Piece of your Heart" by Meduza ft Goodboys. I'm not going to pretend these are underground sounding records, but at the same time they don't sound as commercial as your typical EDM record. They aren't exactly household names either, nor do they have vocals by a "name" just to sell more records.

We do have a couple of Top 40 hits by Jax Jones, plus one each from Martin Garrix and Sigala, all of which feature everybody and everybody else. The remaining 2 come from Avicii who for obvious reasons isn't going to be making any new EDM music.

The latter of the 2 Avicii hits, "Heaven", was the last EDM tune to make the Top 40, and it came out at the start of June. Nearly 4 months have passed since. In a way though, it seems quite appropriate for that to be the final EDM Top 40 hit.

Ok, I'm talking about the Top 40 and obviously there is more to music than the Top 40, particularly in this day and age. But then EDM is music for the charts, so if it isn't there then where is it?

Away from the charts though, if you look at the line up at SW4 this year it wasn't exactly what I'd call a dance music festival, maybe they needed the pop acts because dance music isn't popular enough to sell that many tickets anymore.

The thing is though, EDM did well to carry on for as long as it did. It was 10 years ago when David Guetta had number ones with "When Love Takes Over" and "Sexy Bitch" and Calvin Harris had a number one with "I'm Not Alone".

In 1989 Acid House was a big thing, in 1999 it was long gone. Similarly in 1999 UK Garage became a big thing, in 2009 it was long gone. We don't know if EDM is finished yet commercially, but if it is then it's about time.