'Unsinkable' Oprah Winfrey is the world's No 1 celebrity - again
The "unsinkable" Oprah Winfrey was yesterday named by Forbes magazine as effectively the world's most powerful celebrity, topping the magazine's Celebrity 100 list. She headed the six women and four men who make up the top 10.
Oprah: Unsinkable.
Singer Lady Gaga came in second, followed by director/producer Steven Spielberg and singers Beyonce and Madonna.
It was the fifth time Oprah, the former talk show host who runs her own TV network has headed the annual ranking of 100 celebrities. Find the whole list here.
Said Forbes ,"Everyone should know this by now: Never count Oprah out. Despite business stumbles and an $88 million earnings drop since last year, Oprah Winfrey returns to the top of Forbes’ annual Celebrity 100 ranking of the most powerful celebrities after two years in second place. "
"There is nobody else with that kind of consistency and power," said Dorothy Pomerantz of Forbes.com. "There are only three people who have been on every single one of our lists since 1999. It is Oprah, Howard Stern and Steven Spielberg."
Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, who was No. 1 last year,was12th this year.
With earnings of $77 million from June 2012 to 2013, Winfrey was not the top earner. That was Madonna who made $125 million.
But Forbes said Winfrey's position in Hollywood and her presence in the press, on television and in social media propelled her to the No. 1 spot.
"She still wields an enormous amount of power, which is really what we look for in our fame matrix. She is taking this cable network and turning it around just through the sheer force of her will, her connections and her ability."
Lady Gaga, despite hip surgery, which forced her to cut short a tour, was in second place earning $80 million in the past 12 months.
"She is still a huge force in pop music. Even when she is not playing, people are talking about her and speculating about her," Pomerantz said.
Spielberg, with earnings of $100 million in the last year, was top man beating rock star Bon Jovi at No. 7, abd also tennis champion Roger Federer defeated at Wimbledon yesterday. Justin Bieber, the youngest member of the list, squeezed into the top ten at No. 9.
Although only 23, sixth place singer Taylor Swift, was in list for the first time, Also in the top 10 TV talk show host, Ellen DeGeneres.
Forbes based a celebrity's earnings on income from tours, books, contracts, endorsements, movies and residuals. Each celebrity was given a marketability score, developed by California market research firm E-Poll.
It gauged fame and influence by how often celebrities appear in the media. It used Starcount, a Singapore-based company that looks at 11 social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, to determine their presence in social media.
"In today's world celebrities have this enormous ability to reach out to their fans, who really are their customers, and to sell their product, which is really themselves. If they don't take advantage of that it hurts them," said Pomerantz.