‘Year of Summer’ is the first hardstyle track ever in the Dutch Top 2000

By Sharon van der Werf 25 December 2023

Quite a few families in The Netherlands have turned up their radio hard during Christmas. For the first time in history, hardstyle was heard during the one and only Top 2000 on Dutch national radio: with ‘Year Of Summer’ by Wildstylez and Niels Geusebroek. “The harder it gets, the faster we seem to fall in love. The deeper we fall, the more we lose control…”

The Top 2000 is a yearly Dutch radio event featuring 2,000 beloved songs, as determined by listener votes, representing the all-time best in music during a marathon program. We can no longer call it news that Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ has again managed to secure the number 1 spot on the Top 2000 this year.

Much more special is the track that boasts position 1756 – more than 11 years after the release of the track that changed their lives, Wildstylez and Niels Geusebroek enter the Top 2000 of NPO Radio 2 with ‘Year Of Summer’. This marks the first hardstyle track ever in that prestigious list, and puts the among world-class artists such as Coldplay, The Who and Ed Sheeran.

“First ever hardstyle track in the prestigious Dutch NPO Radio 2 Top 2000”

Wildstylez and Niels Geusebroek are extremely proud of this achievement. “First ever hardstyle track in the prestigious Dutch NPO Radio 2 Top 2000. Thank you so much for voting on Year of Summer!,” they told everyone in a collab post on Instagram. Well-known artists from the scene are flooding social media with compliments.

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A post shared by Wildstylez (@wildstylez)

Even years after its release, ‘Year Of Summer’ remains immensely popular. The track currently has more than 67 million streams on Spotify – an unprecedented amount for a hardstyle track. Earlier this year, Niels Geusebroek brought the song back to attention by performing an acoustic version on Radio 538, which gave many listeners goosebumps. Here you will find a link to this acoustic version.

‘Year Of Summer’ by Wildstylez and Niels Geusebroek was aired on Dutch radio on Monday December 25 between 19:00 and 20:00 during the Top 2000 on NPO Radio 2.

Header image via Facebook-page Wildstylez