Spotify's Daniel Ek named most powerful person in the music business

The chairman and CEO of the streaming service displaces Universal’s boss at the top of Billboard’s Power 100

Spotify’s chairman/CEO, Daniel Ek, has been named as the most powerful person in the music industry by the trade magazine Billboard. Ek, 33, tops Billboard’s annual “Power 100”, rising from No 10 last year. He displaces Lucian Grainge, the chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group.

Opening its citation for Ek, Billboard says: “For the first time since Napster decimated music sales, the recorded-music industry is showing signs of growth, and that reversal of fortune is largely due to one man … Daniel Ek.”