These are the winners of the Hardstyle Awards 

The moment everyone’s been waiting for is finally here: it’s time to announce all winners for the Hardstyle Awards 2023. Hard News & Hardstyle.com joined forces again for the annual hardstyle competition based on your votes and our data. You all voted in big numbers and now it’s time to reveal the results. 

The Hardstyle Awards is an independent contest that will crown the best artists, labels, and talents with a prestigious award. During the Hardstyle Awards Ceremony, live from the Brabanthallen, we gave away prizes in 8 different categories.

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Best Artist: Rebelion

We’re proud to announce that Rebelion has won the ‘Best Artist’ award for the second time in a row. Last year has been a major success for the Scottish duo – they hosted their own X-Qlusive event, made a great impression with their Supremacy anthem and they concurred the biggest stages with rainbow colored lights and lasers with their The Second Dose live-act. They created hits like ‘Numb’, ‘Lucid Dreams’ and ‘DAS IST KEIN TECHNO’. In 2023 you couldn’t ignore Rebelion – what does 2024 have in store for them?

Best Track: Aversion – Activation

A-a-activation. With Activation, Aversion made this year’s best track. During the festival season you heard the recognizable tu-du-du-du sounds countless times, which is why the track has been awarded the ‘Best Track’ award this year. In one of the first episodes of PLAFONDDIENST – The Hardstyle Podcast, Aversion talked about producing this track in just 4 hours.

Best Album: Rebelion – The Second Dose

This year, Rebelion didn’t only win the award for ‘Best Artist’, but they also took home the award for ‘Best Album’. With The Second Dose, the Scottish duo managed to get 1 million streams within the first day of the release. The popularity of this album has not been unnoticed, so this year’s ‘Best Album’ award goes to them.

Best Label: Gearbox Digital

The award for ‘Best Label’ goes to… Gearbox Digital. With a massive amount of releases this year, the label is here to stay. With artists such as Mutilator, DEEZL, Anderex and Fraw, the label released one hit after the other. They sold out the Ziggo Dome in just 10 hours and just announced their first festival Supercharged in July, they will transform Amsterdam Zaanstad into a harder styles paradise.

Best Outdoor Festival: Defqon.1 Weekend Festival

All Weekend Warriors united to vote for their favorite festival: Defqon.1 Weekend Festival got the absolute most votes in the new ‘Best Outdoor Festival’ award. With endless highlights in one weekend, such as the iconic Power Hour, the Opening Ceremony by Phuture Noize and Sefa’s unique shows in the Defqon.1 Theatre, the holy grounds were loved by all visitors. 

Best Indoor Event: Supremacy

“A counter movement has risen to take on the system. Driven by one thing AI cannot control. They are supreme through sound…” Last year’s edition of Supremacy was one for in the books. Countless live-acts were premiered, such Deluzion’s Paranoid, The Assassination by Bloodlust and Sub Zero Project’s Psychedelic Bad Trip live. The visitors liked this edition so much that organisation Art of Dance took home this year’s ‘Best Indoor Event’ award. 

Most Promising Artist by XXL Nutrition: Dual Damage

They came, they kloenked, they concurred. Dual Damage dominated the whole hardstyle scene with their unique sound and endless energy on the stage. With their kloenks and pvc-kicks, Dual Damage has their own formula for success. They became extremely popular last year through TikTok, which ensures that the whole audience goes crazy during every set. That is why we are proud that the men of Dual Damage can take home this year’s Most Promising Artist by XXL Nutrition award.

Honorable Mention: DJ The Prophet

After more than 35 years, DJ The Prophet left the scene this year with a farewell show on the largest stage in the harder music genres: the iconic RED of Defqon.1. In 1990, this pioneer started producing Hardcore. 10 years later he founded the label Scantraxx, and grew into an important personality for many within the Hardstyle community. We call him The Godfather of Hardstyle – and that’s why his unique achievements in hardstyle earned him the Honorable Mention award this year.

Thank you for voting on the Hardstyle Awards 2023

On behalf of Hard News and Hardstyle.com, we’d like to thank you for voting. You can watch the live registration from the Brabanthallen below. We see you next year at another edition of the Hardstyle Awards.

Images via KVDM Photography