From: Australia

Best known for: ‘Losing It’.

With weighty bass-heavy house anthems like ‘Losing It’ and this year’s ‘You Little Beauty’ becoming such ubiquitous club and festival staples in the last two years, it almost seems shocking that this is only FISHER’s second year in the Alternative poll — he’s up a very healthy 20 places, storming into the top 10 in the process. He’s a man who’s taken to his headline status so naturally and comfortably it does feel like he’s been around much longer than he has.

In many ways he has; as he explained in our cover feature on him earlier this year, Fisher moved over from Australia to the US in the mid-2000s to pursue a surf career and had been on the surf party circuit for years, then the first half of this decade he cut his teeth as one-half of Cut Snake. It’s these years of immersion in club culture and honing his sound that are paying off right now. And they’re paying off in a staggering way. Let’s just look at his capacity as a DJ alone. Fisher has been unstoppable: he’s held his own Catch & Releasebranded parties across many major US cities and festival arenas, his Bodyworks residency in Ibiza (alongside CamelPhat and Solardo) was one of the season’s hottest tickets, and he smashed the Warehouse Project to pieces two days on the trot for its sold-out opening weekend. Meanwhile, with fellow hit-making chum Chris Lake, he not only sold out their three b2b Under Construction raves in the US, but the pair are also set to launch their own festival. Entitled NAFF (Not Another Fking Festival), 29th to 30th November will see them holding huge parties in both Rio and São Paulo. And this is just a potted recap.

After a couplet of underground wobblers on Dirtybird, last year’s monster anthem ‘Losing It’ was nominated for a Grammy at the start of 2019 and has been the most-played tune at Tomorrowland for two years running. While not quite as ubiquitous, this year’s follow-up has been just as much of a success. A super-sized juggernaut, ‘You Little Beauty’ was awarded Hottest Record In Ibiza 2019 by Ministry Of Sound and, like its predecessor, was a No.1 Billboard hit and No.1 in his native Oz. What’s more, both of these hits were delivered on his own label, Catch & Release. Another remarkable aspect of the Fisher phenomenon and his success this year; not only has he taken his new brand across the US with a string of block parties but so far it’s been three-for-three as all releases have hogged the Beatport overall No.1 spot — both of FISHER’s tracks, and his first signing, Martin Ikin’s equally massive ‘Hooked’.