Angelina Jolie is the most powerful celebrity, according to Forbes

Angelina Jolie has topped another list - but this isn't one of those most beautiful' or sexiest' polls. Jolie has been declared the Most Powerful Celebrity in the World by Forbes Magazine. Forbes does annual rankings of celebrity power, using some sort of complicated matrix of money earned from film and television work, endorsement deals, books, et cetera. It also takes into account some kind of fame meter, using data from assorted multimedia/polling/web stuff. The Top Ten of the Celebrity 100 is as follows (in descending order): Angelina Jolie, Oprah Winfrey, Madonna, Beyonce Knowles, Tiger Woods, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Spielberg, Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, and Kobe Bryant. Try this for the complete list of the Celebrity 100.

Yes, you read that right. Aniston made the top ten - ahead of Brad. Which is weird, because of all of the players in the uncool Bermuda Triangle, I thought Brad had the best year. In addition to the truly underrated Coen brothers comedy Burn After Reading, Brad had a lot to do with the financial and critical success of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Button was up for a ton of Oscars, including a Best Actor nomination for Brad (his first in the lead category). His fame-meter is about the same as Angelina's, and I do believe Brad makes more money than Angelina per film. Anyway, here's Forbes's take on the whole mess:

She's rich. She's talented. She's beautiful. And now Angelina Jolie is the most powerful celebrity in the world.

Thanks to the release of several blockbuster movies and an endless sea of media buzz, Jolie has dethroned Oprah Winfrey to top this year's Celebrity 100 list, Forbes' annual ranking of the world's ultra famous.

Jolie raked in $27 million in the past 12 months thanks to a movie schedule that included Kung Fu Panda, Wanted and the not-yet-released spy thriller Salt. Even more impressive: The publicity she garnered following the birth of her twins, as well as the consistent headlines she grabs for her philanthropic efforts and her relationship with actor Brad Pitt, who ranks No. 9 on the list.

Winfrey drops to No. 2 on the list. The media maven has pocketed $275 million in the last year, making her the list's top earner. Though viewership for her daily chat fest, The Oprah Winfrey Show, continues to erode, her earnings remain unchanged from a year ago.

In addition to Winfrey's monthly magazine, she has a three-year, $55 million deal with XM Satellite Radio. Early next year, the self-made billionaire will roll out the lifestyle-themed Oprah Winfrey Network in partnership with Discovery Communications.

In a year filled with humbling bank failures and violent stock market swings, the earning power of the 2009 Celebrity 100 remained remarkably resilient. The cumulative earnings of the 2009 list totaled $4.1 billion, up slightly from last year's $4 billion haul.

The primary reason celebrities are still making big money: Many stars are locked into long-term performance and endorsement contracts. If the economy does not improve, expect the downturn to catch up to the A-list next year

The Celebrity 100, which includes film and television actors, models, chefs, athletes, authors and musicians, is a measure of entertainment-related earnings and media visibility (exposure in print, television, radio and online). The earnings estimates consist of pre-tax income between June 2008 and June 2009. Management, agent and attorney fees are not deducted.

Rounding out the top five on the list are pop icon Madonna ($110 million), singer Beyonce Knowles ($87 million) and golfer Tiger Woods ($110 million).

The Material Girl banked the majority of her millions on the road. Her 'Hard Candy' tour rounded out 2008 as the year's top-grossing international tour, raking in $280 million across 17 countries.

Knowles' haul came from album sales, tour performances, films, a fashion collection and a lengthy list of endorsement deals.

Woods' pile of cash came mostly from endorsements, appearance fees and a lucrative gig designing golf courses. He spent most of the year sidelined with a knee injury.

Among the newcomers on this year's list: Twilight scribe Stephanie Meyer (No. 26) and country crooner Taylor Swift (No. 69). Meyer, who sold 29 million books and created a vampire frenzy, earned $50 million during the year-long period. Swift was the top-selling U.S. artist of 2008, banking $18 million off of a tour, album sales and endorsement deals.

Barack Obama joins the list as the first sitting head of state to land on the Celebrity 100. The President's historic election last year helped him sell millions of books. He debuts on this year's list at No. 49, with book earnings of $2.5 million for the 12-month period.
To make room for the new entries to the list, 37 bold-faced stars fell off. Among them: J.K. Rowling and Johnny Depp. Rowling lacked a new Harry Potter book, while Depp failed to release or collect on an installment of Pirates of the Caribbean.

[From Forbes]

Here's something that goes unmentioned by Forbes - the top four most powerful celebrities are women. Take that, misogynists. Usually Will Smith is up around the top three, but he dropped to number 11 this year - perhaps the critical and financial failure of Seven Pounds was to blame. In any case, I find it hard to believe that somehow Kobe Bryant is more powerful than Will Smith. On another note, the top ten is also pretty racially diverse, so I have no complaints there. Interesting list!

Angelina is shown at Cannes on 5/19/09. Credit: Fame Pictures