A State of Trance Radio Top 50 - 2026, Vol. 1 (Selected by Armin van Buuren) - Extended Versions

Between track 1 and track 51 sits an 87 BPM chasm. 'Serendipity', Armin van Buuren's collaboration with Andrew Bayer, is listed at 68; 'Bounce Ritual', 'Batida Viva' and 'Vem Comigo' hit the ceiling at 155. Between those extremes, this radio-born Top 50 doesn't behave like a flat ranking: read through the tempo column, it sketches a session with climbs, summits and pressure valves.

The opening crosses friendly terrain: seven cuts between 123 and 137, with Mauro Picotto, CRW and Kamilo Sanclemente's 'I Feel Love' stretching to 7:49, the longest of the lot. 'Break It Down' (70 on the sheet) works as the first breather before the climb into the 140 block where Driftmoon, DIM3NSION and David Forbes line up. The first summit arrives with 'Mouth Go LaLa': Armin and Maddix at 150, bluntly tagged as peak-time techno. And halfway through, SCRIPT's remix of Green Velvet and Layton Giordani brakes at 97, the tech house pause nobody expects in the middle of a trance compilation.

Three altitudes for the booth

• Warm-up (123-131): 'Mindstate', 'Hello', 'Need A Little Love' and 'I Feel Love' itself build an elegant first hour, with Ferry Corsten and HALIENE's 'Wherever You Are' as the melodic bridge.
• Main-floor plateau (135-143): the trance heart of the record: 'Elements', 'Rise Again', 'Harbour 43' and the 'Red Woods' anniversary mix hold the range without pause.
• Red zone (145-155): 'Crazy People 2026' —3:40, the shortest— fires toward the 150s of 'Still Here' and the triple 155 ceiling.

The final descent is better drawn than usual: from the melodic 132 of 'Like A Child' to the tech house rework of 'Greece 2000' at 129, before 'Always You', the ELEVATION anthem signed with Richard Durand and Dicosis, closes at 138 in G minor.

Context explains the coherence: the show has aired weekly since 1 June 2001, and the label was born in 2003 as one of Armada Music's first imprints. The family plays at home: Ruben de Ronde, the show's co-host, lands 'River In Me'; Ferry Corsten, a monthly resident, logs three appearances; and Armin, selector and judge, keeps six cuts for himself. What remains isn't a ranking: it's a set already sketched, with the gradients measured.