NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Forbes Magazine PR team) Lady Gaga is the World's Most Powerful Celebrity on Forbes' 2011 Celebrity 100 list ('The Celebrity 100,' p. 76), knocking Oprah Winfrey – who held the top spot four times – into 2nd place.
Lady Gaga tops our power list not just because of her $90 million in earnings, but also because of her 32 million Facebook fans and 10 million Twitter followers, who helped move 1 million copies of her hit single, 'Born This Way,' in just five days. The earnings power of The Celebrity 100 dropped slightly in 2011, with this year's stars having earned a collective $4.5 billion during the past year, down from $4.7 billion in 2010.
Justin Bieber debuts on the list at No. 3, and is also the youngest, at 17 years old. He earned $53 million over the last 12 months, and in addition to concerts, movie sales and a 3-D documentary movie, his 'Baby' hit song video was viewed 500 million times, a YouTube record. He is joined by other notable newcomers, among them musician Katy Perry (No. 12), actor Christopher Nolan (No. 47), actress Natalie Portman (No. 75), television actor Mark Harmon (No. 98) and reality TV star Bethenny Frankel (No. 42). Frankel is among several celebrity entrepreneurs featured in the June 6 issue cover story, 'The New Celebrity Money Makers' (p. 65), who illustrate that power is more than earnings and followers – it's also about building a brand and a business.
Donald Trump (No. 17) breaks into the Top 20 (from No. 32 in 2010) thanks to his increased media attention around the birther issue. Leonardo DiCaprio (No. 15) is the biggest gainer, up from No. 71 a year ago, with two huge films, Shutter Island and Inception. Notable drop offs include Britney Spears (who was No. 6 in 2010, but fell off because she didn't tour) and Daniel Radcliffe (who ranked 82nd last year) of Harry Potter fame. Sixty-seven of the 100 people on the list this year are men, and they pull in 73% of the total earnings. Musicians rule the 2011 list (in fact, six of the Top 10 spots are held by musicians). For other surprises behind the numbers, see 'Star Wars' (p. 88).
The Top Ten:
| NAME | | 2011 Rank | | Earnings | | 2010 Rank | |
| Lady Gaga | | 1 | | $ 90 million | | 4 | |
| Oprah Winfrey | | 2 | | $290 million | | 1 | |
| Justin Bieber | | 3 | | $ 53 million | | New | |
| U2 | | 4 | | $195 million | | 7 | |
| Elton John | | 5 | | $100 million | | Returnee | |
| Tiger Woods | | 6 | | $ 75 million | | 5 | |
| Taylor Swift | | 7 | | $ 45 million | | 12 | |
| Bon Jovi | | 8 | | $125 million | | Returnee | |
| Simon Cowell | | 9 | | $ 90 million | | 11 | |
| LeBron James | | 10 | | $ 48 million | | 28 | |
Forbes' celebrity power ranking is a measurement of entertainment-related earnings and media visibility (exposure in print, television, radio and online) over the past 12 months, as well as social media power.
For the complete list, related features and more, visit: www.forbes.com/celebs. Follow Forbes on Twitter (www.twitter.com/Forbes). Become a fan of Forbes on Facebook (www.facebook.com/Forbes).
