James Hype just set himself a challenge that sounds made up.
In December, the UK DJ and producer will try to mix 1,000 tracks in two hours. He’ll do it on 16 CDJs and four mixers. “In December 2026 I’m attempting something I think is impossible,” he wrote on Instagram on Monday. “In a regular 2 hour DJ set I play 50-60 songs.”
He’s calling it Project 1000.
- What
- a 1,000-track DJ set in two hours
- Who
- James Hype
- Gear
- 16 CDJs and 4 mixers
- When
- December 2026 (no exact date yet)
- Where
- not announced, and no tickets yet
A new track about every seven seconds
Two hours is 7,200 seconds. Divide that by 1,000 tracks and you get a new song about every 7.2 seconds, start to finish, with no breathers. His normal set runs 50 to 60 songs in the same two hours, so this is 17 to 20 times his usual pace.
DJ Mag reports that he describes the set as a “love letter to all the dance music tracks that I’ve loved through history.” On Tuesday he posted again: “For the culture that has given me everything. This is Project 1000.” Then he asked his fans, “Love it or hate it.. Do you think I’ll pull it off?”
Why 16 decks
Hype was previously known for using four decks. In September he showed off the bigger rig on TikTok, surrounded by boxes of CDJs and chalking a 360-degree layout onto the floor. “I get why this looks ridiculous, but the point is not to play 16 tracks at once,” he said, per We Rave You. “The point is to find out how far this can actually go.”
It isn’t just a matter of plugging in more decks. We Rave You reported that Pro DJ Link, the system that lets CDJs share a tempo and a music library, was never built for 16 players. Back in September, Hype said the networking, audio routing and layout were all still unsolved. He also admitted he’d have to learn to DJ on it.
The Liverpool-born DJ came in at No. 51 in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs poll this year. He’s also put out a string of new singles, including “Waterfalls” with Sam Harper and Bobby Harvey, “Don’t Wake Me Up” and “Let Me Show You” with Camisra.
What we don’t know yet
There’s no venue, no exact date, no tickets and no word on a livestream so far. Neither Hype’s posts nor DJ Mag’s report call it an official world-record attempt. We’ll update this post when he shares the details.
Could one of our WLIT DJs keep up? Our DJs mix live on WLIT.FM. Listen live 24/7 on the WLIT.FM app or at wlit.fm, no login needed.
Source: DJ Mag, James Hype on Instagram (11/2), James Hype on Instagram (11/3), We Rave You, Electric Mode. Photo: James Hype press / DJ Mag.
