Adele - 21

Adele swept on to these shores with the wave of young pop divas like Duffy that flooded out of England in the wake of Amy Winehouse’s success. Some critics even called her the new Amy Winehouse. But Adele wasn’t messed up like Amy, or pin-up pretty like Duffy. By her own admission, she was different. “I think Amy is hardcore and Duffy is really soft, a proper lady,” she said. “I’m really contemporary—and just really mouthy.”

A graduate of London’s famed BRIT School, where she was classmates with Leona Lewis, Adele made her mark with her 2008 debut album, 19, a soulful collection of songs like “Chasing Pavements” that won her two Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist. What set Adele apart was the honesty and power in her voice, as she sang about the pain and complexity of love and heartbreak. Her brilliant new album, 21, goes even deeper into the same emotional terrain, steeped this time in Southern blues, country and soul.

21 opens with the stunning “Rolling in the Deep,” a bluesy, gospel-style revenge number in which Adele warns her ex-lover “don’t underestimate the things that I will do.” More tender yet still potent are the wrenching pianos ballad “Turning Tables” and “One and Only.” She also delivers riveting confessionals like the Cure’s “Lovesong” and her own “Someone Like You,” a bittersweet farewell to a former lover. Charting her own course by singing straight from the heart, Adele is the real deal: a diva with staying power.