will.i.am | No 11

Artist: the Black Eyed Peas Producer: Justin Timberlake, U2, ­Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, Cheryl Cole He'd be high in the list solely for the huge impact made by the ever-changing sound of the Black Eyed Peas, which manages to simultaneously tap into the zeitgeist and stay one step ahead of it; on top of that, his production work ­merits a high placing. But ­William Adams is also busy ­redefining what an artist should be in the 21st ­century. An early convert to ­filesharing, he has declared the album format dead, and seeks to transform the CD of a dozen or so songs from a set-in-stone, finished artefact into the ­starting point for an ever-growing ­virtual ­product. The industry hasn't caught up with him yet – but it will.