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NEW YORK CITY: US talk-show diva Oprah Winfrey was
ranked the world’s most powerful celebrity for the second year
running in a new survey published by Forbes magazine.
The top ranking is based on
income over the past 12 months as well as web references, press
clippings, broadcast mentions and major magazine covers devoted to
the celebrity, Forbes said on its website Thursday.
Winfrey, the 54-year-old high
priestess of US daytime television, beat out golfer Tiger Woods to
second place and Hollywood heavyweight Angelina Jolie on the list.
Forbes reported that Winfrey
earned $275 million between June 2007 and June 2008, while Woods
pocketed $115 million.
While Jolie earned a fraction of
those sums—$14 million according to Forbes—the actress came out
on top for the number of web hits, securing her place in the top 10.
In fourth place was singer
Beyonce Knowles, who finished three places above husband hip-hop
mogul Jay-Z, with earnings of $80 million and third overall for the
number of web hits.
English football superstar David
Beckham’s move to the US Major League Soccer team the Los Angeles
Galaxy helped catapult him into the top 10, taking fifth place with
earnings of $50 million, ahead of actor Johnny Depp in sixth.
In eighth place just behind
Jay-Z, British supergroup The Police muscled their way into the top
10 after a year that saw the band reunite for a successful concert
tour.
J.K. Rowling, the billionaire
author behind the Harry Potter books, was in ninth, earning more
than any other celebrity on the list over the same period with a
mammoth $300 million.
As actor Brad Pitt—Angelina
Jolie’s partner—rounded out the top 10, the upper echelons were
notable for some famous absentees.
Rock legends Madonna, The Rolling
Stones and Elton John had all fallen out of the top 10, as had actor
Tom Cruise.
--AFP
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