Adam Lambert, Britney Spears Are Hottest Musicians Right Now

One is an American Idol alum and the second best selling artist of 2009, while the other is the Princess of Pop, with a career spanning more than a decade of success. Adam Lambert and Britney Spears are the hottest stars in the music industry right now, as a readers’ poll for Billboard magazine shows.

“What started as a raging argument in the Billboard offices turned into a heated debate among you, dear readers. When we asked you [what] you thought […], you voted by the hundreds of thousands. You also weren’t shy about speaking your minds – more than a thousand of you bombarded our comments section to give props to your objects of affection and to diss us for overlooking your favorite. (We humbly apologize to every Mariah Carey fan ever. Can we move on now?)” Billboard magazine writes.

“But the dust has finally settled and we are pleased to present the 10 men and 10 women who reigned supreme in the poll. On the guys’ side, your top picks included the glam Idol, two veteran rock kings, a Latin pop star, and a couple of R&B slow-jam masters. On the ladies’ side, an uber-famous pop princess takes the crown with the queen B., who got her ring put on it, nipping at her heals. How did all the votes shake out exactly, you ask?” the magazine goes on to say.

Recap: on the men’s side, Adam Lambert took 20% of all the votes, followed closely by Nick Jonas of The Jonas Brothers with 19%. Chris Brown came in third with 15 % of the votes, Justin Timberlake followed next with 13%, while Enrique Iglesias proved he didn’t need a mole to have girls swooning, coming out on fifth with 6% of all the votes. The top 10 was rounded up by Bruce Springsteen (5%), Jon Bon Jovi (4%), Usher (3%), Maxwell and Drake, both with under 2% of all the votes.

As for the ladies, Britney Spears came on top with 27%, followed by far by Beyonce, with just 13% of the votes. Miley Cyrus, Rihanna and Lady Gaga rounded the top 5, with 9%, 8% and 7% of the votes. Carrie Underwood, Shakira, Nicole Scherzinger, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry also made the cut in the final top 10, with under 6% each of the total number of votes.