Since episode 001 Armin Van Buuren (now the world’s number 1 dj officially!) has been pioneering the trance sound. A legend in his own right, Armin’s tracks have become the benchmark for quality, uplifting dance music. Working with some of the most influential names in the scene, tracks such as ‘Blue Fear’, ‘Communication’ and ‘Burned with Desire’ are now considered classics by all. It is this ‘pioneering’ attribute that has brought success to the ASOT radio show. Now averaging over 6 million listeners each week, the hours of 20.00 – 22.00 CET every Thursday are synonamous with fans throughout the world. The first episode aired on June 1st 2001, with a pilot episode previously on SLAM FM (ID&T radio) on May 18th 2001.

Nearly 7 years on, ASOT is the perfect opportunity for a 2 hour insight into the electronic music scene today. Beginning with what is normally a lesser tempo, deeper progressive and uplifting house tracks drift over the airwaves, before building into a more upbeat driving mix of anthemic trance guaranteed to make you move. A format many have tried to imitate, but without the success of ASOT. Credit is due to artists such as Above & Beyond who recently achieved 200 episodes of their weekly internet show, TATW (Trance Around the World) and Super8 & DJ Tap for ‘Anjuna Beats Worldwide’. However, currently standing at 339 episodes, ASOT is the longest running.

On a weekly basis, listeners have the chance to vote for the ‘Future Favourite’ on Trance.nu – this is the track with the most votes from last weeks show. There is also the ‘Tune of the week’, selected by Armin himself. Each year a massive (normally free) event is held to celebrate the show’s birthday, in 2007 the Pettelaarse Schans, ‘s Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands hosted episode 300 part 2, with some very special guest dj’s.

At the end of each year, Armin also holds a public vote of the top tracks that featured that year. Compiled online, voters can choose their top 5. This is then correlated into a top 20 mix of the year, performed by Armin himself. There is also the chance to choose the favourite episode of the year which is replayed during December.

The main highlight though, is the ‘A State of Trance Yearmix’. This epic 2 hour masterpiece, mixed by Armin features around 90 tracks from the year. The year mix of 2007 had over a thousand digital edits and took hundreds of hours to produce…A stunning piece of digital mixing that incorporates the finest music from that year.