Armin van Buuren, OON (born in Leiden, Netherlands on 25 December 1976) is a Dutch trance producer and DJ. In 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 he was voted number one in DJ Magazine's annual top 100 list of the most popular DJs. Since 2001 van Buuren has hosted a weekly radio show called A State of Trance and claims to have over 30 million weekly listeners in more than 40 countries, which would make it the most listened radio show in the world. His 2008 studio album, Imagine, entered the Dutch album chart at #1, a first for a dance artist in Dutch music history.[1]

Armin van Buuren has always had his own studio and worked alone in the beginning of his career. Since the release of his third studio album Imagine from 2008 he has been working with Benno de Goeij and DJ-RA of Rank 1 on all solo productions and remixes. He is well known for his annual "Year Mix" which incorporates clips and custom mashups from the year's most popular trance tracks. Each year-mix consists of about 85 individual releases, edited into a 2 hour mix which is released on double CD as well as aired on his weekly radio show at the end of each year. According to van Buuren, each year-mix takes several months to make, including thousands of digital audio edits and hundreds of audio plugins.

Armin Van Buuren
Armin van Buuren in New York, 2007
Background information
Birth name	Armin van Buuren
Also known as	Amsterdance, Armania, Darkstar, E=mc2, El Guitaro, Elect of DJ-RA, Gaia, Gig, Gimmick, Hyperdrive Inc., Misteri A, Perpetuous Dreamer, Problem Boy, Rising Star, The Shoeshine Factory
Born	25 December 1976 (age 34) Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands
Origin	Koudekerk aan den Rijn, South Holland, Netherlands
Genres	Trance, Progressive Trance, Vocal Trance, Uplifting Trance, Electro House, House Music
Occupations	Remixer, Producer & DJ Composer
Instruments	Synthesizer, drum machine, equalizer
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Armada Music (2003–present)
Associated acts	Alibi, Dark Matter, Electrix, Lilmotion, Major League, Monsieur Basculant, Red & White, Technology, Triple A, Wodka Wasters
Website	arminvanbuuren.com

A State of Trance 500 (ASOT 500) :

To mark the 10 year anniversary and 500th episode of his weekly radio show A State of Trance, Armin performed at five shows across five continents over five consecutive weeks along with various artists. The first show was held on 19 March 2011 in Johannesburg, South Africa at the MTN Expo Center. In addition to Armin - Blake Jarrell, Protoculture, Lange, Leon Bolier, and Jorn van Deynhoven were performers. Super8 and TAB were to be part of the South African show, however a flight cancellation caused them to be absent for the event. The event was attended by over 20,000 people. Miami's show was performed at the Ultra Music Festival on 27 March, and part of the show were Marcus Schossow, Alex M.O.R.P.H., Cosmic Gate, Gareth Emery, Ferry Corsten, ATB, and Sander van Doorn. Argentina held the third celebration of ASOT 500 in club G.E.B.A Buenos Aires, where Heatbeat (Argentina's Trance music icons at the time), Jochen Miller, Dash Berlin, Marcus Schultz, AVB, John O'Callaghan and W & W. It was the only of the 5 ASOT 500 celebrations that was held roofless, where AVB recorded a live video with his cell phone and uploaded it to Twitter while playing his live set, showing Argentinean's passion for Trance. Den Bosch in The Netherlands followed with the biggest event of 2011. Accompanied by more than 30 DJ's from countries all over the world, Armin brought together over 30,000 people in one long night's worth of trance music. DJ friends present were Markus Schulz, Gareth Emery, Above & Beyond, Paul Oakenfold and Sean Tyas. The event was radio broadcasted live from Den Bosch by Armin himself to over 30 countries as well as many of the DJ's using their sets as their live weekly or monthly podcast.[21][dated info] The final show was held in Sydney, Australia marking the 5th show of the ASOT 500 tour. It was held on 16 April at Acer Arena in Olympic Park and was a sold out event weeks before the night. Shogun, Australia's own tyDi, Menno de Jong, Aly & Fila, Alex M.O.R.P.H. and of course Armin Van Buuren were the lineup where Armin played for a 3 hour set in celebration of this epic 5 week tour.