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Wikipedia / Drum Corps International World Class Champions

At the end of the summer season, Drum Corps International (DCI) World Class corps compete to earn the title of DCI World Class Champion (formerly DCI Division I World Champion). The championships consist of three rounds—Preliminaries, Semifinals, and Finals—held on the first or second Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of August. Through 2010, all active World Class corps (21 corps as of 2024) competed in the Quarterfinals, with the top 17 advancing to the Semifinals. The top 12 corps from Semifinals then advanced to the Finals. Since the 2011 season, all active DCI corps (Open and World Class) have been permitted to compete for the championship. In this format, about 40 corps compete in Preliminaries, while the top 25 advances to Semifinals, with the top-scoring 12 advances to Finals. The champion is determined by the overall high score in the Finals competition. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the DCI World Championship and tour were cancelled. In 2021, to mark the return of drum corps, there were no scores given during the season, and the season concluded with a three-day celebratory event at Lucas Oil Stadium consisting of exhibition performances.

Only 11 corps have ever won the title (including 3 ties):

The Anaheim Kingsmen, Star of Indiana, and The Cadets are no longer active.

Year

Champion & Repertoire

Score

2026

Bluecoats (Canton, Ohio)

Gravity and Grace

99.100

2025

Boston Crusaders (Boston, Massachusetts)

BOOM

98.425

2024

Bluecoats (Canton, Ohio)

Change is Everything

98.750

2023

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

The Cut-Outs

98.975

2022

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

Tempus Blue

  • Lapis Lazuli

  • Divine Blue

  • Carnival of Venice

  • Moon River

  • Hands And Feet

  • Silk Sonic Intro

  • Tank!

  • Home Of The Brave

98.750

2021

No scored competitions

2020

Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic

2019

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

Ghostlight

  • Discombobulate

  • Don't Think

  • Rhythm Song

  • A True Passion

  • Stroke of Genius

  • Symphony No. 3

  • Ghostlight

  • Circus

98.325

2018

Santa Clara Vanguard (Santa Clara, California)

Babylon

  • My Body is a Cage

  • Journey to the Center of the Earth

  • Metropolis 1927

  • Apology

  • Club Sound

98.625

2017

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

Metamorph

98.538

2016

Bluecoats (Canton, Ohio)

Down Side Up

97.650

2015

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

Ink

  • Dark Forest

  • Sweeney Todd

  • The Giant Attack

  • The Mad Hatter's Tea Party

  • I Like You

  • Children Will Listen

  • Last Midnight

97.650

2014

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

Felliniesque

Act 1 - Fellini's Religion

  • Old Toys

  • La Strada

Act 2 - Fellini's Circus

  • The Clowns

  • Circo Compagnia

Act 3 - Fellini's Fantasy

  • Be Italian

  • Movie Studio

99.650

2013

Carolina Crown (Fort Mill, South Carolina)

e=mc2

98.300

2012

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

Cabaret Voltaire

  • Harmonielehre

  • Morrison Mania

  • Children's Hour of Dream

  • Symphonies: V

  • Bird and Bela in B Flat

  • Gymnopedies Amazon

  • Ballet Mecanique

  • Peppy and George (from The Artist)

  • Dr. Bones

  • New Arrival (from Corpse Bride)

  • Tevot

  • Rhapsody in Blue

98.700

2011

The Cadets (Allentown, Pennsylvania)

Between Angels and Demons

  • Angels in the Architecture

  • 160 BPM (from Angels and Demons)

  • Doxology/Amazing Grace

  • Finale

98.350

2010

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

Through a Glass, Darkly

  • City of Glass Suite

  • Conflict

  • Mirage

  • Trajectories

  • Incident in Jazz

  • Laura

  • La Suerte De Los Tontos

98.900

2009

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

1930

99.050

2008

Phantom Regiment (Rockford, Illinois)

Spartacus

  • Ein Heldenleben

  • Selections from Spartacus

  • Toccata from Piano Concerto No.1

  • Dance of Ecstasy

  • Battlefield from KÀ (Cirque du Soleil)

98.125

2007

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

Winged Victory

  • Pegasus Fantasy

  • Ascension

  • Heaven

98.000

2006

The Cavaliers (Rosemont, Illinois)

Machine

  • Genesis

  • Wired

  • Premonition

  • The Machine Age

97.200

2005

The Cadets (Allentown, Pennsylvania)

The Zone: Dreamscapes in Four Parts with a Door

  • Twisted Nerve from Kill Bill

  • Liquid

  • Overture to a New World (from Dancer in the Dark)

  • Cvalda (from Dancer in the Dark)

  • Vertigo

  • False Mirrors

99.150

2004

The Cavaliers (Rosemont, Illinois)

007

98.700

2003

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

The Phenomenon of Cool

98.800

2002

The Cavaliers (Rosemont, Illinois)

Frameworks

  • Melody

  • Harmony

  • Rhythm

99.150

2001

The Cavaliers (Rosemont, Illinois)

  • Four Corners

98.350

2000

The Cadets (Bergen County, New Jersey)

We Are the Future

  • Disney Millennium Celebration

The Cavaliers (Rosemont, Illinois)

Niagara Falls

  • Niagara Falls

  • Richard Saucedo Original Composition

97.650

1999

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

Rhythms...At the Edge of Time

  • Estancia Ballet (Rhythm 1 – Afrocuban/Malambo)

  • Powerhouse: Rhumba for Orchestra (Rhythm 2 – Rhumba)

  • Powerhouse: Rhumba for Orchestra (Rhythm 3 – Samba)

  • Adios Nonino (Rhythm 4 – Tango)

  • Unchained Melody (Rhythm 5 – Jazz)

  • The Dirty Boogie (Rhythm 6 – Swing)

Santa Clara Vanguard (Santa Clara, California)

Inventions for a New Millennium: Music by Samuel Barber and Frank Ticheli

98.400

1998

The Cadets (Bergen County, New Jersey)

Jan Van der Roost's Stonehenge

  • Stonehenge

  • Canterbury Chorale

98.400

1997

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

As Time Goes By...

  • Casablanca

  • Bangkok

  • A Night in Tunisia

  • As Time Goes By

98.400

1996

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

Club Blue: A Gangster Chronicle

  • Children's Hour of Dream

  • Desi

  • Tess' Theme (from Dick Tracy)

  • Trouble (from Mission Impossible)

Phantom Regiment (Rockford, Illinois)

A Defiant Heart: The Music of Dmitri Shostakovich

97.400

1995

The Cavaliers (Rosemont, Illinois)

The Planets

  • Mars

  • Venus

  • Mercury

  • Jupiter

98.300

1994

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

My Spanish Heart

  • Spanish Fantasy Part I

  • Night Streets

  • Day Danse

  • My Spanish Heart

  • Spanish Fantasy Part 4

98.400

1993

The Cadets of Bergen County (Bergen County, New Jersey)

In the Spring, At the Time When Kings Go Off to War

  • In the Spring, When Kings Go Off to War

  • Ballet Sacra

  • On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss

97.400

1992

The Cavaliers (Rosemont, Illinois)

Revolution and Triumph

97.500

1991

Star of Indiana (Bloomington, Indiana)

Roman Images: The Music of Ottorino Respighi

97.000

1990

The Cadets of Bergen County (Bergen County, New Jersey)

A Bernstein Celebration

97.700

1989

Santa Clara Vanguard (Santa Clara, California)

Phantom of The Opera

  • Angel of Music

  • Masquerade

  • Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again

  • Track Down this Murderer

98.800

1988

Madison Scouts (Madison, Wisconsin)

  • Concerto For Guitar and Jazz Orchestra

  • Malagueña

97.100

1987

Garfield Cadets (Garfield, New Jersey)

97.900

1986

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

  • Channel One Suite

  • Conquistador

  • Spanish Fantasy

  • Chick Corea Suite

98.400

1985

Garfield Cadets (Garfield, New Jersey)

  • Jeremiah Symphony

  • Overture to Candide

  • Make Our Garden Grow (from Candide)

98.400

1984

Garfield Cadets (Garfield, New Jersey)

  • Selections from West Side Story

98.000

1983

Garfield Cadets (Garfield, New Jersey)

94.400

1982

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

  • T.O.

  • Pegasus

  • Paradox

  • One More Time Chuck Corea

  • People Alone (from The Competition)

95.250

1981

Santa Clara Vanguard (Santa Clara, California)

94.000

1980

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

  • New York Fantasy

  • Ya Gotta Try

  • Pegasus

  • Free

  • La Suerte de Los Tontos (from Cuban Fire Suite)

  • Pauper in Paradise

  • Dindi

90.600

1979

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

  • Chicago III Suite

  • La Suerte de Los Tontos (from Cuban Fire Suite)

  • My Heart Belongs to Me

93.550

1978

Santa Clara Vanguard (Santa Clara, California)

91.550

1977

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

  • Channel One Suite

  • Spanish Fantasy

  • Gonna Fly Now (from Rocky)

92.050

1976

Blue Devils (Concord, California)

  • Channel One Suite

  • Legend of the One-Eyed Sailor

  • Chase the Clouds Away

92.700

1975

Madison Scouts (Madison, Wisconsin)

92.500

1974

Santa Clara Vanguard (Santa Clara, California)

  • Siegfried's Rhine Journey (from Die Götterdammerung)

  • A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

  • Overture to Candide

  • A Little Night Music

  • Weekend in the Country (from A Little Night Music)

  • Send in the Clowns (from A Little Night Music)

89.500

1973

Santa Clara Vanguard (Santa Clara, California)

  • Fanfare and Allegro

  • A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

  • Wedding Celebration & Bottle Dance (from Fiddler on the Roof)

  • Chava Ballet (from Fiddler on the Roof)

88.650

1972

Anaheim Kingsmen (Anaheim, California)

88.100