VINAI
Hardwell is a Dutch DJ and music producer whose real name is Robbert van de Corput. He was born on 7 January 1988 in Breda, the Netherlands. He is the founder of Revealed Recordings and the producer behind Spaceman, Apollo, Zero 76, Dare You, Young Again, Power and other well-known electronic releases. During the first half of the 2010s, Hardwell became one of the key figures in festival EDM and topped the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs poll for two consecutive years — in 2013 and 2014.
His early international period was primarily associated with big room house, electro house and progressive house. After returning to touring in 2022, Hardwell noticeably changed his sound, combining big room with techno, trance and hard dance. Revealed Recordings itself describes the music of the Rebels Never Die album era as big room/mainstage, while the expanded edition is categorised as big room techno.
Early years
Robbert van de Corput grew up in Breda — a city closely connected with the Dutch electronic music scene and the career of Tiësto. From childhood, he studied piano and attended music school, while at around the age of 12 he became interested in DJing and began producing his own electronic music. At 14, the future Hardwell signed his first recording contract and began performing outside his hometown.
Because of his age, he was not yet allowed to be in nightclubs on his own, so his parents accompanied him to his early performances. By the age of 15, he was already playing regularly in different cities across the Netherlands. After finishing school at 18, Van de Corput focused entirely on music.
One of his most important early influences was Tiësto. Hardwell recalled seeing him as a teenager at the Magik Muzik record store in Breda, and Tiësto later became a professional mentor as well as a partner in live performances and studio work. Chuckie also had a noticeable influence on his DJ skills during the early stage of his career.
Origin of the Hardwell name
Robbert’s father came up with the stage name. According to the musician himself, Hardwell was conceived as an English interpretation of his surname Van de Corput. The name appeared when he was around 12 years old and was registering a website to publish his own music. The DJHardwell.com address established the name that later became his permanent stage identity.
Early releases
Hardwell’s professional discography began long before his international EDM breakthrough. As a teenager, he released mixes and compilation projects, and by the mid-2000s he was regularly appearing in club catalogues as a remixer and producer. Apple Music includes his 2006 remix of The Underdog Project’s Summer Jam and his work with Scooter in 2007 among the releases from this early period.
On 21 December 2007, Hardwell and Greatski released Never Knew Love. The track reached No. 32 on the Nederlandse Top 40 and became one of the first commercially notable releases in his discography.
Even more important for the international club audience was a mash-up combining Robin S.’s Show Me Love with Be by Steve Angello & Laidback Luke. Hardwell’s version circulated widely among DJs and helped draw attention to the producer outside the Netherlands.
Revealed Recordings
In 2010, Hardwell founded Revealed Recordings — his own independent electronic music label. On the company’s tenth anniversary, Revealed explicitly identified Hardwell as its founder; the catalogue later expanded far beyond the artist’s own releases.
At different stages, Dannic, Dyro, KAAZE, Sick Individuals, Maddix, Blasterjaxx, Dr Phunk and many other producers worked closely with Revealed. The label developed not only its main release series, but also additional branches including Revealed Radar and Gemstone.
Revealed became the permanent platform for a significant part of Hardwell’s own discography — from Spaceman and Apollo to Rebels Never Die and later releases.
Zero 76 and the beginning of the international breakthrough
In 2011, Hardwell released Zero 76 with Tiësto. The title refers to the telephone area code of Breda — the hometown of both producers. This period marked the beginning of Hardwell’s rapid rise to international recognition.
That same year, he entered the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs for the first time, debuting at No. 24. In 2012, he climbed to No. 6, and one year later he topped the ranking.
Spaceman and Apollo
In 2012, Hardwell released Spaceman — one of the defining big room house releases of the early decade and one of the most recognisable tracks in his catalogue. A vocal version, Call Me a Spaceman featuring Mitch Crown, followed later. Revealed continues to list the track among the producer’s central works.
On 26 November of the same year, Apollo featuring Australian vocalist Amba Shepherd was released. The track placed Hardwell’s characteristic combination of melodic progressive house and electro bass within a more song-oriented structure. The producer said he began working on the track in Houston, which is where the title Apollo originated.
Spaceman and Apollo became two of the most important releases from the period in which Hardwell’s sound fully developed around a large-scale festival format.
Ultra Miami and DJ Mag No. 1
One of Hardwell’s best-known performances was his set at Ultra Music Festival Miami 2013. This period coincided with the peak of festival EDM and the rapid growth of his international audience.
In October 2013, Hardwell reached No. 1 in the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs for the first time, becoming the youngest winner of the poll at that point. In 2014, he retained the top position for a second consecutive year.
Hardwell On Air
In 2011, Hardwell launched his own radio show Hardwell On Air. The programme became a platform for premieres of his own music, releases from Revealed Recordings and new tracks by other electronic producers.
The show aired regularly for ten years and paused in January 2021 after its 500th episode. In November 2023, Hardwell revived the programme with episode No. 501 after a break of around two and a half years. Following the relaunch, Hardwell On Air moved to a monthly format and continued to be distributed via radio and digital platforms.
United We Are
On 23 January 2015, Hardwell released his first studio album, United We Are. The standard edition includes Eclipse, Follow Me, Sally, Let Me Be Your Home, Colors, Where Is Here Now, United We Are, Don't Stop the Madness, Young Again, Echo and other tracks.
The album features collaborations with Jason Derulo, Tiësto, W&W, Fatman Scoop, Mr. Probz, Chris Jones, Bright Lights and other artists. Compared with Hardwell’s predominantly club-oriented early discography, United We Are noticeably expanded the song-based and pop elements of his music.
In the UK, the album reached No. 83 on the overall Official Albums Chart and No. 11 on the Official Dance Albums Chart.
The album was accompanied by the large-scale I Am Hardwell live programme. According to the artist’s official biography, the worldwide touring series between 2014 and 2016 included 62 performances in 21 countries, including concerts at Madison Square Garden and Brixton Academy.
Development of his sound after United We Are
After his debut album, Hardwell continued releasing music primarily as singles and EPs.
This period included Off the Hook with Armin van Buuren, Run Wild with Jake Reese, Thinking About You with Jay Sean, Creatures of the Night with Austin Mahone, Power with KSHMR, We Are Legends with KAAZE and Jonathan Mendelsohn, This Is Love with KAAZE and Loren Allred, Shine a Light with Wildstylez and other releases.
Hardstyle and heavier festival-electronic elements gradually became more prominent in his music. Collaborations with Dr Phunk and Wildstylez already pointed toward this direction before Hardwell’s later sonic transformation following his touring hiatus.
Touring hiatus
In September 2018, Hardwell announced an indefinite break from touring. After more than ten years of constant touring, he decided to clear his live schedule and devote more time to life outside the road.
This was not the end of his music career. Hardwell continued to be involved with Revealed Recordings, while previously recorded material and label projects continued to be released.
One of his final major performances before the break took place at the Ziggo Dome during Amsterdam Dance Event in October 2018, where Hardwell performed together with the Metropole Orkest.
Return at Ultra Music Festival
On 27 March 2022, around three and a half years after his last official performance, Hardwell unexpectedly closed the main stage of Ultra Music Festival in Miami.
The comeback introduced a fundamentally new musical direction. Instead of his typical big room house sound, the set was built around a harder combination of techno, big room and trance. At the same time, Hardwell announced a new album and world tour.
Rebels Never Die
On 9 September 2022, Hardwell released his second studio album Rebels Never Die through Revealed Recordings. It consists of 14 main tracks and became the full expression of his new sound.
The album includes:
- BROKEN MIRROR
- INTO THE UNKNOWN
- FCKING SOCIETY*
- BLACK MAGIC
- DOPAMINE
- GODD
- PACMAN
- MIND CONTROL
- REMINISCE
- ZERO GRAVITY
- LASER
- I FEEL LIKE DANCING
- SELF DESTRUCT
- REBELS NEVER DIE.
Instead of the familiar progressive-house melodic approach, techno rhythms, faster tempos, harder synthesizer lines and more minimalistic festival drops moved to the foreground. At the same time, Hardwell retained the melodic sensibility and large-scale dramatic structure characteristic of his earlier work.
The expanded edition of Rebels Never Die added OH GOSH, new versions of Spaceman, Retrograde and Big Room Never Dies, as well as a live mash-up based on Nothing Else Matters and FCKING SOCIETY*.
After Rebels Never Die
After returning, Hardwell did not go back to an exact recreation of his early-2010s sound. In subsequent releases, he continued working between big room techno, techno, trance and hardstyle.
In 2023, he released collaborations with Maddix, Space 92, Nicky Romero, Timmy Trumpet, Sub Zero Project and other producers, as well as new versions of classic dance tracks and remixes for Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding and David Guetta & Benny Benassi.
In 2024, this phase continued with XTC, I'm The Devil, No Sleep with Sarah de Warren and Follow The Light with Armin van Buuren.
The new period did not replace Hardwell’s early discography, but instead created a second clearly defined phase of his career: festival big room in the 2010s and harder big room techno after his return.
Musical style
Historically, Hardwell’s music developed from house and electro toward large-scale festival-oriented production.
In the early 2010s, the central styles were big room house, progressive house and electro house. Tracks such as Spaceman, Apollo, Dare You and Young Again combined melodic themes with powerful festival drops.
Even before his hiatus, Hardwell had begun incorporating hardstyle more actively. After 2022, techno elements became one of the foundations of his music, while his current sets sit at the intersection of big room techno, mainstage, trance and hard dance. In his DJ Mag 2025 profile, his DJ style is explicitly described as energetic big room techno.
It would therefore be inaccurate to describe Hardwell’s entire career solely as progressive house or, conversely, only as techno: his catalogue reflects several different stages in the development of festival electronic music.
Charity projects in India
A separate chapter in Hardwell’s biography is the World's Biggest Guestlist project, connected with the United We Are Foundation, Guestlist4Good and the Indian organisation Magic Bus.
In December 2015, a charity performance in Mumbai helped raise funding for educational programmes supporting more than 18,000 children from low-income families. In 2017, the project returned in the expanded World's Biggest Guestlist Festival format, with the goal of extending educational support to as many as another 100,000 children.
The project used major music events as a tool for fundraising and raising awareness of children’s access to education.
DJ Mag Top 100 DJs
Hardwell’s main results in DJ Mag Top 100 DJs:
- 2011 — No. 24
- 2012 — No. 6
- 2013 — No. 1
- 2014 — No. 1.
After returning to touring, Hardwell again climbed into the upper section of the ranking: he placed No. 11 in 2024 and No. 15 in 2025.
Main discography
Studio albums:
- United We Are — 2015
- Rebels Never Die — 2022.
Key releases:
- Hardwell & Greatski — Never Knew Love — 2007
- Tiësto & Hardwell — Zero 76 — 2011
- Spaceman — 2012
- Apollo feat. Amba Shepherd — 2012
- Dare You feat. Matthew Koma — 2013
- Young Again feat. Chris Jones — 2014
- Follow Me feat. Jason Derulo — 2015
- Hardwell & Armin van Buuren — Off the Hook — 2015
- Hardwell & KSHMR — Power — 2017
- Hardwell & KAAZE feat. Jonathan Mendelsohn — We Are Legends — 2017
- Hardwell & KAAZE feat. Loren Allred — This Is Love — 2018
- BLACK MAGIC — 2022
- PACMAN — 2022
- Hardwell, Maddix & Luciana — ACID — 2023
- Hardwell & Armin van Buuren — Follow The Light — 2024.
Hardwell in electronic music
Hardwell’s career spans two noticeably different periods. In the early 2010s, his name was closely associated with the rise of big room house and festival EDM, while Spaceman, Apollo and a series of performances at Ultra, Tomorrowland and other major festivals defined this stage of his discography. After his touring hiatus, Hardwell returned with a harder sound in which big room was combined with techno, trance and hardstyle.
At the same time, Revealed Recordings and Hardwell On Air enabled him to work not only as a solo producer, but also as a label owner and curator of new electronic music. This combination of his own discography, festival career and work with Revealed remains the foundation of Hardwell’s professional history.
