How EDC, Skrillex, Deadmau5 and more Ignited Music in 2011

There is no denying that 2011 was a breakout year for electronic dance music. From the insane fan-packed festivals to most recently Skrillex being the first DJ ever to be nominated for a Grammy award for best new DJ.

Billboard is calling 2011 the year when America finally tuned in and dropped out to electronic dance music.

"The great thing about electronic music is that it's a very forceful scene," says DJ/producer Paul Oakenfold, one of the genre's first superstars. "It's 20 years old in Europe -- it's still getting bigger and better. America has finally caught up; now there's a whole new generation that loves it."

The numbers alone are electrifying. Electric Daisy Carnival drew 230,000 attendees and Ultra Music Festival turned out 150,000. Ultra Records broke the 100 million mark on YouTube and has a total of over 1.3 billion views now making it the fifth most watched music channel on the website. The inaugural Identity Identity Tour also did 150,000 total fans.

With artists in every genre now clamoring for a remix or a track produced by one of these EDM artists and fans coming out in the masses to these shows, there is no sign of electronic music slowing down anytime soon.

Read the full article on Billboard