He went on to add: "People need to use their words carefully when they announce these lists. I think it's offensive to the black music community for whoever chose that word to say 'black and urban music'.

"Urban music doesn't have a skin colour as far as I'm concerned. When you say 'black music' you're just asking for trouble putting Ed as the face there."

Grime MC Wiley criticised the list,accusing the English music industry of going 'backwards'.

'We influence a man and all of a sudden it turns he has influenced us ….Lol', he said among a series of tweets.

BBC Radio 1Xtra's music manager has defended the 'Power List',saying: "I think that anyone who wants to bring race into the discussion is probably a little bit misguided."