Angelina Jolie & Jennifer Aniston are top celebrity earners

Last month we reported on the annual Forbes Celebrity Power 100' list, which ranks celebrities by media hits, paychecks, awards, buzz, et cetera. Angelina Jolie topped the list (beating Oprah Winfrey) for the first time, and was crowned the number one Most Powerful Celebrity. Now it seems Forbes is releasing some of the data they used to make the list, and we're finding out who the top Hollywood earners were amongst actresses. Here are the top five, with their yearly income (I think it goes from June 2008 to June 2009): Angelina Jolie ($27 million), Jennifer Aniston ($25 million), Meryl Streep ($24 million), Sarah Jessica Parker ($23 million), Cameron Diaz ($20 million).

Angelina Jolie is Hollywood's top earning actress, banking $27 million in the past year to beat out her partner Brad Pitt's ex-wife Jennifer Aniston, who raked in $25 million, a Forbes.com study showed on Wednesday.

Most of Jolie's income came from her share of the profits from her action film 'Wanted,' but she was also paid a large upfront sum for her role in 'Salt,' the study said. Jolie and Pitt have six children.

Aniston, who was married to Pitt before he became involved with Jolie, earned most of her millions from the romantic comedy 'Marley and Me' and her upcoming film 'The Baster.'

'Aniston also still earns money from (reruns of TV series) Friends and she gets a nice paycheck shilling for Glaceau's SmartWater,' Forbes.com said.

Meryl Streep came in at No. 3 with $24 million, most of which came from her role in 'Mamma Mia,' while Sarah Jessica Parker was ranked fourth with $23 million in earnings following the movie version of TV series 'Sex and the City.'

Cameron Diaz rounds out the top five, banking $20 million between June 2008 and June 2009.

Forbes.com said it spoke to agents, managers, producers and lawyers to work out what actresses were paid upfront for movies they are currently shooting and what pay they might have earned after a movie hit the theaters. Money earned from perfume or clothing lines was also taken into account.

'As is still typical for Hollywood, our actresses earned significantly less than their male counterparts,' Forbes.com said, pointing out that the top earning male actor, Harrison Ford, made $65 million.

[From Reuters]

I'm surprised by two things - first, Meryl Streep gets paid so well for being so friggin' awesome. That alone proves there is some justice in the world. Secondly, I'm surprised that Cameron Diaz only ranks number five on the list. Diaz really is a movie star, and she's the heir to Julia Roberts (at least in paychecks). Diaz consistently gets eight-figure paychecks, even when she's just doing voice work for the Shrek films. It's shocking to me that she wouldn't be the top earner. Oh, well. Guess we just have to embrace the uncool Bermuda Triangle.