Adele named most powerful person in British music

Grammy Award-winning artist Adele has been named the most powerful person in British music.

The 23-year-old singer topped the Music Power 100 list compiled by The Guardian, ahead of the likes of Simon Cowell, creator of The X Factor and owner of Syco, a subsidiary label of Sony Records.

One key player in Adele's transatlantic success has been Richard Russell, head of her record label XL Recordings.A music industry panel decided the order of the list, considering each artist and the team behind him or her when evaluating their strength.

He said the Rolling in the Deep star's popularity is down to a simple approach.

'The whole message with her is, it's just music. There's no gimmicks, there's no selling of sexuality,' he said.

Adele's latest record, 21, has so far sold more than six million copies worldwide and has spent 15 of the last 17 weeks at the top of the UK album charts.

Other industry figures to feature on the list were the heads of Universal Music, Lucian Grange and David Joseph, who came in second place, between Adele and Cowell.

Radio 1 policy executive Nigel Harding reached number four, indicating the influence of the public broadcaster's radio playlist, while the iTunes digital music retailer completed the top five.