British Frozen Out of Forbes Poll of Powerful Celebrities
In a determined attempt to bring scientific rigour to the cult of celebrity worship, the American business magazine Forbes releases its annual list of the "most powerful celebrities on the planet" today.
Ranking the stars by both fame and fortune, the magazine calculates that the US chart topper Britney Spears deserves the No 1 position because she earned $39m last year, generated 10 magazine cover stories and had nearly a million hits on her website. The survey also relied on press cuttings and mentions on television and radio.
Women generally did better than men. The previous year's No 1, Tom Cruise, fell out of the list altogether, whereas his former wife, the Australian actress Nicole Kidman, made it to No 27 in the rankings.
The female stars of the long-running TV show Friends - Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and Courtney Cox - all feature; none of the programme's male starts makes the list.
Such rankings suggest the list owes most to the preferences of US editors who are convinced glamour shots sell magazines. All the media surveyed were in America and consequently few foreign faces appear. Among those who do are the veteran British musicians Elton John and Eric Clapton.
The best selling children's author JK Rowling is ranked No 34, reputedly having earned $41.8m last year.
The Irish rock band U2 are the highest foreign entrants, making it to fifth position.
The former US president Bill Clinton appears at No 18 on the list, having earned over $35m, presumably through after dinner speeches.
Despite his recent knighthood, Mick Jagger, who two years ago was ranked No 6, is absent.
"One needn't be a blue nose to wonder whether the standards of our civilisation and culture aren't getting confused," writes the somewhat underwhelmed editor of Forbes Global, Tim Ferguson. "Mick's honour was hardly the first time a pop figure was elevated to the realm of Winston Churchill and Walter Raleigh, but it is representative of a growing trend within the UK and beyond to assign a seriousness and stature to individuals who are, well, entertainers."
Top 10
1 Britney Spears
2 Tiger Woods
3 Steven Spielberg
4 Madonna
5 U2
6 NSync
7 Mariah Carey
8 Oprah Winfrey
9 Michael Jordan
10 Tom Hanks
Ranking the stars by both fame and fortune, the magazine calculates that the US chart topper Britney Spears deserves the No 1 position because she earned $39m last year, generated 10 magazine cover stories and had nearly a million hits on her website. The survey also relied on press cuttings and mentions on television and radio.
Women generally did better than men. The previous year's No 1, Tom Cruise, fell out of the list altogether, whereas his former wife, the Australian actress Nicole Kidman, made it to No 27 in the rankings.
The female stars of the long-running TV show Friends - Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and Courtney Cox - all feature; none of the programme's male starts makes the list.
Such rankings suggest the list owes most to the preferences of US editors who are convinced glamour shots sell magazines. All the media surveyed were in America and consequently few foreign faces appear. Among those who do are the veteran British musicians Elton John and Eric Clapton.
The best selling children's author JK Rowling is ranked No 34, reputedly having earned $41.8m last year.
The Irish rock band U2 are the highest foreign entrants, making it to fifth position.
The former US president Bill Clinton appears at No 18 on the list, having earned over $35m, presumably through after dinner speeches.
Despite his recent knighthood, Mick Jagger, who two years ago was ranked No 6, is absent.
"One needn't be a blue nose to wonder whether the standards of our civilisation and culture aren't getting confused," writes the somewhat underwhelmed editor of Forbes Global, Tim Ferguson. "Mick's honour was hardly the first time a pop figure was elevated to the realm of Winston Churchill and Walter Raleigh, but it is representative of a growing trend within the UK and beyond to assign a seriousness and stature to individuals who are, well, entertainers."
Top 10
1 Britney Spears
2 Tiger Woods
3 Steven Spielberg
4 Madonna
5 U2
6 NSync
7 Mariah Carey
8 Oprah Winfrey
9 Michael Jordan
10 Tom Hanks
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