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Oops! Britney Tops "Forbes" List
The 20-year-old pop thongbird has landed the number one spot on Forbes' list of the world's most powerful celebrities.
The special "Celebrity 100" issue out Thursday has the Britster usurping last year's throne holder Tom Cruise on a list that ranks entertainers based on annual income combined with their pop-culture exposure.
Spears, who was number four last year, won bragging rights on the new list more for her headline-grabbing ways than actual earnings. She ranked only 25 in overall riches, tallying a mere $34 million last year. That's nowhere near the $200 million fortune George Lucas, the list's top moneymaker, made in the same period.
But Britney more than benefited by the amount of media coverage she drew. From the myriad magazine covers to the salacious Pepsi spots, from her televised concert specials and incessant touring to her movie debut in Crossroads, from her soon-to-open Manhattan bistro to her split with 'N Syncer Justin Timberlake, everywhere you look, there was Britney.
Not only does she rank right up there when it comes to searches on the Web, but the popster posed twice in two years for the cover of Forbes, certainly putting her in the good graces of the magazine's editors when her picture helps sell a lot of magazines. (But she's not on this issue's cover--it's The Sopranos.)
The rest of the top 10, in descending order: golf god Tiger Woods, megadirector Steven Spielberg, whose latest flick, Minority Report stars Cruise and hits theaters today; pop queen (and Britney's idol) Madonna; Grammy-winning rockers U2; boy band 'N Sync; R&B diva Mariah Carey; talk-show host Oprah Winfrey; basketball legend Michael Jordan; and Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks.
Maybe it was the braces that did him in, but last year's top selection Cruise fell off the list completely. Forbes editor Dennis Kneale tells Reuters that Cruise's omission was due to him opting to be paid for Minority Report off the back-end and not upfront, thus missing the cut-off date for the period by which the magazine calculated his income.
One celeb on the rise, however, is Cruise's ex-wife, Nicole Kidman, who surfaced at number 27.
"We just totally side with Nicole," Kneale quipped.
From the tube, David Letterman may lose out in the ratings war to Tonight Show host Jay Leno, but overall his celebrity standing is higher, landing at number 23 versus 41 for Leno. Meanwhile, the three female Friends--Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and Courtney Cox-Arquette--charted at 28, 59 and 68, respectively.
Musically speaking, Ozzy Osbourne stumbled into the number 85 spot courtesy of the surprise success of his MTV reality series, The Osbournes.
On the political side, former President Bill Clinton checked in at 18, thanks to his $25 million earnings for speaking engagements last year. And former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani entered the chart at 43 due to his post-September 11 performance and his selection as Time's Person of the Year.
Other notable entries include spookmaster Stephen King at 14 after scaring up $52.4 million in earnings. The hunt for Tom Clancy ended at number 22, where the Cold War novelist landed after grossing $47.8 million.
Finally, while best-selling writer Mary Higgins Clark had a slight edge earnings-wise over Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, $43.6 million to $41.8 million, once the celebrity factor was calculated, Rowling wound up at 34 to Higgins' 47.
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