This isn't about whose music you like the most.  This is about who changed and influenced pop culture the most.  Do you believe its Lady Gaga or Adele?

I strongly believe Lady Gaga, due to the fact that she really ushered in the electropop era and was at the forefront of the shift from the conformist 2000s to the more individualistic 2010s.  If you think Adele was more influential, why?

I agree on Lady Gaga.  She really got Elctro-Pop and EDM going.

If this thread was in the early 2010s, then I would choose Lady Gaga. But ever since 2013, Adele has pretty much stole Lady Gaga's fans (or monsters, as she calls them). I guess they like her better than what Lady Gaga has for them. I'm more of a Lady Gaga fan per se, but I think Adele is more influential in this decade than LG. LG was a short phenomenon late '00s/very early '10s, while Adele is more core '10s. She's also more friendly than Lady Gaga, as she doesn't offend some people. Like of how LG gave Mets fans the middle finger in a concert at Citi Field, along with pissing off Madonna, Hong Kong, and Japan with her attitude. Adele has an Order Of The British Empire (MBE) award, and is also a philanthropist. That's saying something.

Music was moving in an electronic direction before Lady Gaga hit it big. The aughts in general used synthesizers much more than the '90s did, and from 2006-2008 music had been using synthesizers as "music landscapes" if you get what I mean. The biggest difference was 2006-08 was primarily based on rap music, whereas Lady Gaga took those same synthesizers and changed the genre into pop. It seems like Lady Gaga changed music because she was easily the biggest artist overall of the recession era (late 2008-first half 2011).

Adele, on the other hand, was more indirect. In 2011 when "Rolling in the Deep" became popular, R&B was dead. It had been for years. Then "Someone Like You" became popular, the first ballad to become a huge chart hit in ages. After that, you had "Rumour Has It" and "Set Fire to the Rain". While not too many people copied her vintage style, she convinced people to love R&B and Soul again. This has paved the way for so many different forms of the genre. You have old school R&B, Alternative R&B, electronic R&B, Soul, and Neo-Soul. Without her influence, we wouldn't have Unorthodox Jukebox-era Bruno Mars (who started off as a pop and hip-hop hybrid artists but then actually moved on to more a Rock, R&B, and Soul sound), Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran (who moved to R&B with x), The Weeknd, Sia, Alessia Cara, Christina Perri, and Justin Timberlake's resurgence in his music career. Even Lady Gaga moved into R&B with Artpop. The biggest example is "Do What U Want", but also "Dope", a mix of electronic rock and electro-R&B. The influence wasn't blatant, but it was a linchpin. One thing led to another and now R&B in multiple forms is more popular than electronic pop music.

Definitely Lady Gaga.  She was the first artist to popularize not just electropop over urban-dance, but also a colorfully extravagant fashion sense that hadn't been seen since the 80s.

Adele may have been more commercially successful than Gaga, but she hasn't influenced the music industry in the same way.  If anything, she was sort of following the footsteps of artists like Amy Winehouse and Duffy.  When I first heard "Rolling in the Deep," I thought it was a new single by Winehouse.

I'd take Adele any day!

When it comes to the core 2010's it's definitely Adele.

Lady Gaga was more late 2000's/early 2010's electropop, but I wouldn't say she's influential to the main 2010's pop culture of music.

Lady Gaga, she was the postergirl of the 2010's Electropop Sound

Adele may have been more commercially successful than Gaga, but she hasn't influenced the music industry in the same way.  If anything, she was sort of following the footsteps of artists like Amy Winehouse and Duffy.  When I first heard "Rolling in the Deep," I thought it was a new single by Winehouse.


I agree with this.  Adele is talented and very successful and may in fact have longer staying power, but I don't believe she had near the influence on music as Gaga did.  While electropop in the mid '10s was certainly more watered down than in the early '10s, I still believe its Gaga's influence that it was popular to begin with.  I think only this year, in 2016, are we seeing that starting to diminish.    In 2006 and 2007 and even into 2008, EDM (then called techno or trance) was not mainstream at all.  Gaga packaged dance music in a way that gave it mass appeal.

Gaga. Nobody remembers what Adele wore to the Grammys last year.