The 2 (or 3) Songs DJs Most Often Mixed Together in 2016

Ever wondered what songs other DJs are mixing together? How unique or common are these mixes? In this article we reveal some of the most commonly mixed tracks and sequences in 2016. Keep reading for the full data and mix details!

Kado’s Insights Into DJ Sets

After being a beta tester on the Kado software this year, I got a chance to chat with Ean and his team about some of the data they were starting to gather on DJ sets. Because they’re pulling from an ever-increasing list of DJ sets, I wanted to know if they’d be able to go beyond simple track-based recommendations and find out trends in DJ sets overall.

The Kado team took these questions and built some of them into an end-of-year insights report called “A Year On The Decks“.

What Two Songs Did DJs Most Commonly Transition Between?

For this data, the Kado team first looked at what they consider “Pro DJs” – or professionals who are playing big gigs, festivals, large clubs. These are not resident DJs or mobile DJs – they’re touring DJs.

The most common two-song transitions for this set of Pro DJs were as follows (descending by number of unique DJs who played these transitions):

Chocolate Puma – “Listen To The Talk” > Firebeatz & Schella – “Dat Disco Swindle”
DJs who played this transition include: Benny Benassi, Hardwell, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Bassjackers, and more.

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Skrillex & MUST DIE! – “VIP’s” > Getter & Ghastly – “666!”
DJs who played this transition include: Major Lazer, Sidney Samson, Annie Nightingale, Getter, Jayceeoh, and more.
Dirty Audio & Rickyxsan – “Gettin’ That” > Antiserum & Mayhem & Gent & Jawns – “Where You Been? (Acappella)”
DJs who played this transition include: The Chainsmokers, Ookay, Jack Ü, K Theory, Boombox Cartel, Dirty Audio
Wolfpack & Warp Brothers – “Phatt Bass 2016” > Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike vs. W&W’ – “Arcade”
DJs who played this transition include: Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Wolfpack, Andrew Rayel,
Future – “Fuck Up Some Commas” > Keys N Krates – “Dum Dee Dum (NGHTMRE Remix)”
DJs who played this transition include: Major Lazer, Flosstradamus, Diplo, Party Favor, Brillz, Dillon Francis, Keys N Krates, DJ Mustard

Looking at their entire collection of DJ sets in 2016, the Kado team instead looked at their own users – not the main room / festival headlining DJs above. This means a lot of real working club/mobile DJs mixes are included – and the two-song combo results are more predictable:

Mark Ronson Featuring Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk” > Robin Thicke feat Pharrell Williams – “Blurred Lines”

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Daft Punk – “Get Lucky” > Robin Thicke feat Pharrell Williams – “Blurred Lines”
Rihanna Feat Drake – “Work” > Drake Feat Beenie Man – “Controlla”
Mark Ronson Featuring Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk” > Michael Jackson – “Billie Jean”
DNCE – “Cake By The Ocean” > Mark Ronson Featuring Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk”

What 3 Song Vignettes / Sequences Did Touring DJs Most Commonly Mix Together?

I thought it would be amazing to take this exact same idea and go one layer deeper. Many DJs talk about vignettes, clusters, or sequences of songs when putting together a set. Touring DJs do this as well – so I also asked the Kado team to find out what the most common three-song sequences were mixed together. They were only able to pull out a single three song combo as the top sequence:

Drake – “Hotline Bling (Ookay Remix)” > Soulja Boy “Crank That” > Major Lazer & DJ Snake – “Lean On (Ookay It’s Lit Bootleg)”
DJs who played this sequence: Flosstradamus, Diplo, Dillon Francis, Alison Wonderland, and more