Hey guys and girls,
First of all: sorry for the lack of updates!
It has been way too quiet on the website for quite some time now. But contrary to what that might suggest, I’m still alive and kicking. 😉
Actually, the main reason for the lack of updates is pretty much the opposite. I’ve simply been extremely busy. Between all the Ghost Production projects, audio engineering, mixing and mastering work, and everything happening with Hel:sløwed, there hasn’t been much time left to sit down and properly write something for the website.Hel:sløwed in particular has grown quite a bit from the ‘fun little side-project’ I talked about a few years ago, and obviously that means spending a lot of time in the studio as well.
But Ghostproducer.nl is still very much alive, and I’m still working on Ghost Productions on a daily basis.
So, I thought this would be a good moment for an update. And instead of just talking about what I’ve been doing, let’s geek out a little and look at something I always enjoy talking about:
What is actually hot in dance music right now?
And maybe more interestingly: where are we heading in 2027?
2026: Where are we now?
I’ve written quite a few of these predictions over the years.
Looking back at some of the older articles, one of the recurring things I’ve mentioned is the increasing influence of trance, the rise in BPM, and the boundaries between house, techno, melodic house and trance slowly disappearing. I think we can safely say we’re there now.
The latest complete ‘A State Of Dance Music’ report from 1001Tracklists is obviously still the 2025 edition, as 2026 isn’t over yet. But it already painted an interesting picture. Tech House was still the biggest genre in terms of DJ support, followed by Melodic House & Techno, Dance and House. Trance had grown to more than 10% of the Top 1000 supported tracks as well.
And when we combine that with what is currently happening in the Beatport charts, there is one trend that becomes pretty hard to ignore: Dance music is getting faster again.
Not every single genre, of course. Afro House and the deeper Progressive House styles are still happily doing their thing around the lower 120 BPM regions. But across a huge part of the club and festival market, the average energy level has gone up considerably. And it’s not just about BPM, the music is becoming more melodic, more euphoric, more rave-influenced and, perhaps ironically, more oldschool. Just produced in a very modern way.
Everything is getting faster
A few years ago, 124–126 BPM was almost the default territory for a huge amount of House and Tech House. Nowadays seeing House at 128, 129 or 130 BPM barely raises an eyebrow. At the time of writing, tracks like Beave – 1997 (a house track at 132 bpm), CAMELPHAT – Landlords Nightmare (Tech-House – 130 bpm), L.P Rythm – How Ya Feelin’ (House 132 bpm) are sitting right at the top of the Beatport charts. And we’re talking about tracks running between 127 and 130 BPM.
Even the Dance / Pop section is getting quicker. You’ll find commercial dance records at 130, 132 and even 134 BPM without them necessarily sounding like what we would traditionally have called ‘fast dance music’.
Tech House is still massive
Tech House definitely isn’t going anywhere yet. 1001Tracklists had Tech House as the most represented genre within its Top 1000 tracks of 2025, and when looking at the current Beatport charts it’s obviously still incredibly healthy. What has changed a bit, in my opinion, is the sound surrounding it. There’s still plenty of the relatively minimal, groove-focused Tech House we’ve had over the past years. But alongside that, you hear harder drums, faster tempos, rave stabs, bigger synths and more melodic elements creeping in. The distinction between Tech House, Bass House, Mainstage and even Techno is becoming a lot less obvious.
Instead of someone saying: “This is Tech House, so it needs to sound exactly like this”, producers seem a little more comfortable just stealing the cool bits from other genres. Which is pretty much how most interesting new styles have always been created anyway.
Melodic House & Techno is becoming… Trance?
This is probably the trend I’ve been talking about the longest. Melodic House & Techno has been moving closer and closer towards Progressive and Trance for years. In 2026 that crossover is impossible to miss. Especially when Melodic House and Techno tracks having been crossing that 130 bpm bridge.
Current Beatport examples range from Adriatique – Palm Of Your Hands to Cassian & AR/CO – Come To Life, while Adam Beyer, Argy & Alok – Keep Up is sitting at 132 BPM. You even have Armin van Buuren & Silver Panda – Here In My Arms (Enjoy The Silence) appearing in the Melodic House & Techno chart at 132 BPM.
The darker, more stripped-back Afterlife-inspired sound definitely still exists, but there’s a much bigger appetite for emotional chord progressions, recognisable melodies, arpeggios, big breakdowns and euphoric leads again. In other words: A lot of things that Trance has been doing for the last 30 years.😉
Trance is back, but not necessarily the way it used to be
I’ve predicted a bigger return of Trance influences a couple of times before. But I don’t think 2027 is going to be about everyone suddenly producing eight-minute 2004-style Trance records again. What we’re seeing is much more interesting than that, it’s the DNA of Trance getting injected into basically everything.
At the time of writing, the Beatport Trance chart has tracks like York, Mike Momburg & Bella Claxton – On The Beach at 140 BPM, the Ben Hemsley Remix of Armin van Buuren & Sharon den Adel – In And Out Of Love at 143 BPM, and KUKO – Voicemail (Tiësto Remix) at a whopping 150 BPM.
There has been a huge amount of hype surrounding Tiësto moving back towards a more Trance-influenced sound this year. He confirmed earlier in 2026 that he had become inspired by Trance again and was working on a new album in that direction. His recent sets have also included quite a few classics, reworks, and obvious references to his earlier sound. His remix of KUKO’s Voicemail is probably a perfect example of what I think is happening right now.
Modern sounding production with oldschool influences. And I expect we’re going to hear a LOT more of that.
Hard Techno, Neo Rave and Hard Dance
Of course we can’t talk about increasing BPMs without mentioning the harder genres. Hard Techno, Neo Rave and Hard Dance have become a serious part of the mainstream festival landscape. And these genres aren’t exactly being shy about tempo either. The current Hard Techno chart contains loads of tracks around 155–160 BPM, while Beatport’s Hard Dance / Hardcore / Neo Rave chart is full of tracks in roughly the same region.
Tracks like Bassjackers & Maddix – Rave Therapy, Marlon Hoffstadt, Hannah Laing & Caroline Roxy – Stomp Your Feet and plenty of the current releases from artists around the harder Techno and Neo Rave scene combine extremely high energy with surprisingly catchy and melodic ideas.
2027: What’s next?
I obviously don’t own a crystal ball, but looking at what DJs are playing, what is selling, what clients are asking for, and simply what I’m hearing around the industry, I think the general direction is becoming pretty clear.
I expect BPMs to keep going up. Maybe not dramatically. I don’t think every House record will suddenly be 145 BPM.
But that comfortable middle ground is moving. Where 124–126 BPM used to be extremely normal for club House, 128–130 already feels perfectly normal now. And 132 BPM is no longer automatically ‘Trance territory’. At the same time, I expect melody to become considerably more important again.
Big chord progressions, Arpeggios, Recognisable riffs, Acid lines, 909 drums, Classic rave elements.
The funny thing is that none of these things are new. Some of them are 30+ years old. But it’s the combination that makes it sound fresh. Oldschool sounds and influences combined with a modern production and mix and master. Take something inspired by 1998 or 2002, combine it with modern sound design, extremely controlled low-end, current loudness levels and 2026 production techniques and suddenly it feels new again.
Genre boundaries will become even less important
This might actually be my favourite trend. Who cares what we call it? If it works, it works.
Artists like Tiësto jumping between these worlds will probably accelerate that process even further.
And once those influences start appearing more often on the biggest festival stages, they tend to trickle down into the wider Dance market pretty quickly.
So for 2027 I’m expecting more Trance without everything necessarily being called Trance.
What does this mean for Ghost Production?
This is actually one of the fun parts of being a Ghost Producer. Production requests tend to follow what is happening in the market remarkably quickly. And that’s what makes it fun for me. Because instead of copying one very specific genre template, you get to figure out why certain references work and then combine those characteristics into something new.
And right now I think the direction is pretty obvious:
Faster. More melodic. More energetic. More emotional. And with a healthy dose of oldschool Dance and Trance influences.
Which, as someone who has always had a soft spot for Trance, I’m definitely not complaining about. 😉
Anyway, that’s it for now.
Again, apologies for disappearing from the blog for this long. Ghostproducer.nl is still very much alive, the studio is still extremely busy and I’m still spending an unhealthy amount of time staring at waveforms and synthesizers. So basically nothing has changed.
A massive thanks to everyone I’m currently working with, everyone who has returned for new projects, and everyone who keeps following what we’re doing with Ghostproducer.nl and He:sløwed.
Hopefully it won’t take me another two years to write the next update. 😉
Happy producing!
Michael de Kooker