Lady Gaga
With only two albums under her belt, Lady Gaga has breathed much needed new life into pop music. The 24-year-old star has become an icon by combining dance numbers with performance art to create something that appeals to teenagers and critics alike. This year, she became the first artist to hit the 5 million mark in digital singles sales and the first celebrity to get more than 10 million fans on Facebook; her videos have been watched online more than 1 billion times. But Gaga's true influence lies in her ability to weave fashion, choreography, visual art and a wide variety of pop-based musical styles into one cohesive, compelling performance. She borrows heavily from predecessors such as David Bowie and Andy Warhol, dressing up otherwise common pop songs so that they seem unique. She has been called the next Madonna, but that title isn't really fair. Lady Gaga is not the next anybody. She's just herself, which is more than enough.