Bono calls the tunes as rock's most powerful person

He has the ear of world leaders, is known in the White House as "the pest", and is on nodding terms with the Pope.

So it is perhaps no surprise that Bono, who sings with U2 when he is not haranguing politicians about Third World debt, has been voted the most powerful person in music.

He was voted number one out of 50 movers and shakers by senior music business executives polled by Q magazine. Bono, 42, was also placed above record and media moguls, who are not household names but wield huge power in deciding which music gets produced and heard.

Mark Blake, deputy editor of Q, said the singer was chosen because he had become the most effective campaigner since the advent of rock music. He enjoyed regular access to Bill Clinton's White House but has managed to keep the ear of the currentRepublican administration, and has been credited with persuading President George Bush to sanction a £3.2bn aid package for the world's poorest countries.

"His success is a measure of how people in power these days are more conscious of the need not to appear out of touch," said Mr Blake. "His message is taken seriously – you only have to look at the people who will take his call."

The poll's second place was taken by Doug Morris, the chairman of Universal Music. Eminem was third and was compared by the judges to Elvis Presley in his audacity in interpreting a black musical form and "overcoming American middle-class prejudice".

Other musicians in the top 10 were the Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain (5), still rated as one of the most influential musicians in the world eight years after his death; Radiohead's Thom Yorke (6), who was called a "junior Bono", and Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono (9).

Robbie Williams, who signed an £80m deal with EMI this week, was at 24, ahead of Kylie Minogue (29); Moby (30); Madonna (31), and Britney Spears (37). Elvis Presley was ranked at 44, one behind Noel and Liam Gallagher.