The 100 Most Powerful Celebrities in the World

Once again, Oprah Winfrey rests at the top of the heap in the the new Forbes “Celebrity 100″ list, a ranking of the most “powerful” celebrities in the universe. Oprah received her crown based on both her earnings and her fame. The magazine uses a complex formula of income and media metrics (Google hits, mentions in the press, magazine covers) to determine the rankings.

Here is a quick look at the stars and athletes (is there a difference?) who landed atop this year’s list of the powerful and popular.

1. Oprah may be dropping just a bit in ratings of her TV show, and her magazine may be slipping a little in circulation, but she still earned $275 million in the last 12 months. And, as the report says, she is still one of the most famous faces in the world. So she’ll remain the queen among this kingdom of ultra-wealthy stars.

2. Again, Tiger Woods — the world’s most famous golfer — held on to his second-place finish with his $115 million earned in the last year and high media profile. He’s still behind Oprah by more than $100 million, but he outpaced her when it came to Web hits.

3. Angelina Jolie has moved up on the list this year, but her $14 million income pales in comparison to the top two. The mother of many and wife of another powerful celeb (hubby Brad Pitt came in at number 10) dominated the media category with a wealth of magazine and TV mentions.

4. Beyonce Knowles jumped up on the list of powerful celebs with an income of $80 million last year. She’s also part of a power couple, with her sweetie Jay-Z popping up to #7 on the list. Knowles brought in her millions with a concert tour, fashion line, endorsements and more, the magazine says.

5. David Beckham (pictured) is the second athlete in the top 5 of Forbes’ list, capitalizing on his high-profile move to Ameria with ex-Spice Girl wife Victoria. The soccer superstar made $50 million last year, popping up on TV and magazines with regularity.  

Rounding out the rest of those atop the list of powerful stars are:

6. Quirky actor Johnny Depp pulled in $72 million last year.

7. Jay-Z, the hip-hop mogul (and Beyonce’s squeeze) who earned $82 million.

8. The Police, those rock stars of the prevous century, are still hot enough to bring in $115 million in the last 12 months.

9. J.K. Rowling, the ubiquitous author of Harry Potter fame, earned more money than any of the other stars, with $300 million. But her star-wattage isn’t as high as those above her on the list (GetListy would trade that kind of money for the excess fame any time) so she barely made the top 10.

10. The other half of Brangelina, as mentioned above, Brad Pitt made more money than Angelina, pulling in $20 million.

Just for the record, the next 10 are:

11. Will Smith, $80 million

12. Justin Timberlake, $44 million

13. Steven Spielberg, $130 million

14. Cameron Diaz, $50 million

15. David Letterman, $45 million

16. LeBron James, $38 million

17. Jennifer Aniston, $27 million

18. Michael Jordan, $45 million

19. Kobe Bryant, $39 million 

20. Phil Mickelson, $45 million

Oh, and just for grins, #40 is Judge Judy Sheindlin, #59 is Rush Limbaugh, #80 is Jon Stewart and at the bottom of the big list is Paula Deen at #100. For the uninformed, Deen is a celebrity chef and TV star in the culinary world.

Go to Forbes.com magazine to read the entire list of 100 and all the details, with in-depth looks at some of the mega-stars, video profiles, different ways to sort the list and special features, such as this one about “celebs who do without.”