Forbes has just released “The World’s Most Powerful Celebrities” list where they rank who they deem to be the most influential and powerful celebrities within the entertainment industry. According to Forbes, they first aggregate more than 200 top earners that are then ranked based on a myriad of factors. From how many times they’ve been mentioned in the media to their social media reach, Forbes uses different data points in their in-house algorithm, which then spits out a power ranking (each data set has a different weight, earnings have the highest). With the help of tools and companies such as Starcount and Factiva, Forbes believe they have assembled an accurate list of who they deem to be the 100 most powerful celebrities.
To create the Celebrity 100, we start by compiling earnings estimates for more than 200 celebrities to create a pool of top earners. To come up with our earnings estimates, we talk to agents, lawyers, producers and other in-the-know folks about entertainment-related earnings for each celebrity. That can include things like upfront pay for movies, syndication payments for old TV shows, tournament winnings and endorsements.
As Electronic Dance Music expands and grows, so do the artists and “players” that are a part of it. As a result, EDM was definitely present in Forbes ranking, although not in great numbers. Only Avicii and Calvin Harris made the cut, at the 47th and 21st spots, respectively. It is no surprise though, as these two artists have been present the most in mainstream media, whether that be for good or bad reasons. These two artists have also heavily crossed over into other non-EDM focused genres, and thus grew their fan bases even further.
Below are listed 50 of the top 100, if you want to view the full list you can go here: Forbes’ Celebrity 100
1. Beyonce Knowles
2. LeBron James
3. Dr. Dre
4. Oprah Winfrey
5. Ellen DeGeneres
6. Jay-Z
7. Floyd Mayweather
8. Rihanna
9. Katy Perry
10. Robert Downey Jr
11. Steven Spielberg
12. Jennifer Lawrence
13. Bon Jovi
13. Bruno Mars
15. Kobe Bryant
16. Roger Federer
17. Miley Cyrus
18. Taylor Swift
19. Lady Gaga
20. Kanye West
21. Calvin Harris
21. Tiger Woods
23. Dwayne Johnson
24. Rafael Nadal
25. Bruce Springsteen
26. The Eagles
26. Justin Timberlake
28. One Direction
29. Paul McCartney
30. Cristiano Ronaldo
31. Sean “Diddy” Combs
31. Ryan Seacrest
33. Justin Bieber
33. Kevin Durant
33. Jennifer Lopez
36. Sandra Bullock
37. James Patterson
38. Pharrell Williams
39. Glenn Beck
39. Peyton Manning
41. Mark Burnett
42. Simon Cowell
43. Novak Djokovic
44. Phil Mickelson
45. Jimmy Fallon
45. Lionel Messi
47. Avicii
48. Bradley Cooper
48. Peter Jackson
50. Michael Bay
