Photo: WENN.com

Adele topped the Queen's list of honours yesterday (June 15) as she was appointed an MBE just months after receiving an Oscar for her hit James Bond track 'Skyfall'.

The 25-year-old singer has had an amazing year so far collecting a number of top accolades which included recognition at the Grammys, Brit Awards and Oscars 2013.

Adele has sold nearly seven millions records in the UK alone and has become one of Britain's most popular exports even though she has only released two albums to date.

With the best-selling album in the world for two successive years, the fact that Adele has been carrying the torch for British artists across the globe was surely a huge factor in the Queen's decision to honour Adele with an MBE.

PJ Harvey has been appointed an MBE

English singer-songwriter, PJ Harvey has also been included in the Queen's list and will be appointed an MBE.  The 43-year-old artist is the only performer to win the Mercury Prize Award twice in her career. 

The extensive list came to 1,180 people in total and 72 per cent are ‘local heroes’ who have engaged in valuable charitable or voluntary work within their communities.

Adele, Mumford & Sons and Muse were all among the artists who lead the way in the UK smashing records for album sales in 2012. The BPI has revealed that British album sales accounted for 13.3% of the global market share last year, the highest on record ever.

Check out the top 10 best-selling UK albums of 2012 below, with their global positioning in brackets:


1. (1) Adele - 21 (XL)
2. (3) One Direction - Up All Night’ (Sony)
3. (4) One Direction -Take Me Home (Sony)
4. (8) Rod Stewart - Merry Christmas Baby (Universal)
5. (10) Mumford & Sons - Babel’ (Universal / Glassnote / Sony)
6. (13) Led Zeppelin- Celebration Day (Warner)
7. (15) Ed Sheeran - + (Warner)
8. (18) Emeli Sande - Our Version Of Events (EMI)
9. (21) Muse - The 2nd Law (Warner)
10. (24) Adele - 19 (XL)

Photo - The making of an icon: how Adele has changed from 2008 to 2013