Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Adele are among the top names on this year’s Woman’s Hour Power List.

The list ranks the 40 most powerful women currently working in the music industry.

Former Destiny’s Child singer Beyonce, who this year became the first black woman to headline Coachella, is in first place, with judges saying that she uses her music and position to bring “black politics, civil rights activism and feminism into the mainstream”.

Taylor Swift is on the list
Taylor Swift is on the list (Ben Birchall/PA)

Swift, praised for being “unafraid to take on big brands and call out injustice” while “empowering” young girls to be “strong women”, is second.

The singer won a symbolic one dollar (77p) victory last year, after jurors found a radio host groped her during a photo shoot.

Vanessa Reed, chief executive of the PRS Foundation, which funds new music and talent development,  is third, with judges citing her work to get international festivals to sign up to a pledge for gender parity.

The top 10 also features singer Adele, conductor Marin Alsop and Chi-chi Nwanoku, founder of the black and ethnic minority orchestra Chineke!

Adele makes the top 10
Adele makes the top 10 (Yui Mok/PA)

The last Power List for the Radio 4 show, in 2016, celebrated women who had made the biggest impact on women’s lives over the past seven decades and was topped by Margaret Thatcher.

Woman’s Hour editor Karen Dalziel said that each name in the 2018 rankings “demonstrated the leadership and perseverance to change the music industry from the inside”.

Baroness Thatcher
Former prime minister Baroness Thatcher topped the last list in 2016 (PA)

The judging panel was chaired by presenter Tina Daheley and included TV producer Jasmine Dotiwala, classical music writer and novelist Jessica Duchen, UK producer of the year Catherine Marks and singer-songwriter Kate Nash.

The list was revealed live in a special Woman’s Hour programme hosted by Dame Jenni Murray on BBC Music Day.

Woman’s Hour Power List top 10

1. Beyonce
2. Taylor Swift
3. Vanessa Reed (chief executive of the PRS Foundation)
4. Adele
5. Stacey Tang (managing director of record label RCA UK)
6. Gillian Moore (director of music at Southbank Centre)
7. Rebecca Allen (president of record label Decca Records)
8. Marin Alsop (conductor)
9. Chi-chi Nwanoku (musician, founder of Chineke! orchestra)
10. Maggie Crowe (director of events and charities at music industry body BPI, Administrator of the BRIT Trust)