Age: 25
Occupation: Singer
Previous TIME 100 appearances: 1

To gauge Lady Gaga's influence, just look at the numbers. In the past year, the singer became the first artist to reach 1 billion views on YouTube and gain 10 million fans on Facebook. In between grabbing headlines for her sartorial choices like the infamous meat dress, Lady Gaga leveraged her fame for advocacy work too. Last December, the pop star took to Twitter to lobby for the repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell," encouraging her followers to call Senate majority leader Harry Reid. Her third album, titled Born This Way, will be released in May.

With only two albums under her belt, Lady Gaga has breathed much needed new life into pop music. The 24-year-old star has become an icon by combining dance numbers with performance art to create something that appeals to teenagers and critics alike. This year, she became the first artist to hit the 5 million mark in digital singles sales and the first celebrity to get more than 10 million fans on Facebook; her videos have been watched online more than 1 billion times. But Gaga's true influence lies in her ability to weave fashion, choreography, visual art and a wide variety of pop-based musical styles into one cohesive, compelling performance. She borrows heavily from predecessors such as David Bowie and Andy Warhol, dressing up otherwise common pop songs so that they seem unique. She has been called the next Madonna, but that title isn't really fair. Lady Gaga is not the next anybody. She's just herself, which is more than enough.

Lady Gaga, 'Bad Romance' (2009)

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2085389_2085359_2085349,00.html

The video for "Bad Romance," the first single off Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster, revealed a darker side of Gaga not seen before its release in November 2009. Sure, there had been glimpses — most notably in her video for "Paparazzi," from her previous album — but in "Bad Romance," she brought out her claws. Literally. Gaga's iconic claw gestures can be traced back to this video. "Bad Romance" also debuted her "Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah/ Roma-ro-ma-ma" monster dance routine that has become as integral to her image as the one-gloved crotch grab was to Michael Jackson's. "Bad Romance" is Gaga's version of a love song: her romance is "ugly" and a "disease," illustrated by the singed corpse of her former lover. The video's Alexander McQueen costumes have become synonymous with her aesthetic. And though Gaga's later videos would be even more elaborate, "Bad Romance" serves as the best example of what she does best: performance pop.