Oprah has held on to the top spot of Forbes‘ annual 100 most powerful and wealthiest celebrities in the world nearly every year for the past seven years but today it’s been announced that Lady GaGa has knocked her off the top spot. In total the full 100 celebrities earned a combined total of $4.5 billion over the past year but the list doesn’t just go based on money, it also goes on social media and other stuff which is how GaGa bumped Oprah because let’s face it when it comes to the media GaGa is the most used name in the world at the moment. Here is the top 10:
01. Lady GaGa
02. Oprah
03. Justin Bieber
04. U2
05. Elton John
06. Tiger Woods
07. Taylor Swift
08. Bon Jovi
09. Simon Cowell
10. LeBron James
You can check out the full 100 list over at Forbes.
This year has seen soem of the biggest celebrity scandals ever, from affairs to trips to rehab to drug scandals, but not all of them were bad this year. Do Something have come up with a list of the most charitable celebrites for the year. Take a look at the top 10…
10. Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber visited and dedicated a music video to the many children battling illness worldwide, even raising $150,000 for a Buffalo, NY children’s hospital. Bieber also works with Pencils of Promise to help build schools and increase education opportunities in the developing world,donating $1 from every ticket sold to the org, which is no small change when you’re selling out giant arenas.
9. Oprah
Oprah donated $40 million to charity, making her The Giving Back Fund’s top celeb philanthropist. O talks education inequities, dedicating a 2-part series of her show to education reform. In September, O presented checks for $6 million in grants to 6 different US charter schools whose groundbreaking leadership provide quality public education.
8. Leonardo Dicaprio
A noted environmentalist, Leonardo DiCaprio took on preserving endangered tigers this year. He traveled to Asia to witness the tiger population threats firsthand, and met with world leaders from the 13 tiger-inhabited countries, including Russia’s Prime Minister Putin. Leo launched Save Tigers Now with the World Wildlife Fund, and in November, donated $1 million for tiger conservation.
7. Matt Damon
Last YearMatt Damon co-founded Water.org to provide safe drinking water & sanitation in developing countries. This August he traveled to Ethiopia to increase water conditions there. He also personally reached out to top celebs like Stephen Colbert asking them to promote the initiative. Recently, he helped design the organization’s water bottles with 100% of the proceeds going to the cause.
6. Nick Jonas
Nick Jonas isn’t just 1/3 of the The Jonas Brothers and their Change for the Children Foundation. A leading diabetes advocate, Nick became this year’s National Chair for JDRF’s Walk to Cure Diabetes. He supports the cause everywhere he can, writing a blog that promotes diabetes awareness and even offering a personal visit for diabetes-sufferers who made a difference in their communities.
5. Ellen DeGeneres
Before and after other celebrities spoke out for the issue, Ellen dedicated episodes of her show to the harms of bullying. She teamed up with the The Trevor Project to raise over $150,000 for LGBT people struggling with mental health issues and delivered a heart-wrenching important message about the epidemic.
4. Ashton Kutcher
Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore launched the DNA Foundation to combat child sex trafficking. Since then, the couple has traveled to meet with world leaders to discuss ending slavery worldwide. On Valentine’s Day the two sent roses to survivors. Ashton also used his Twitter to successfully pressure Craigslist to shut down their harmful ‘adult services’ section.
3. Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift is a Tennessee girl, so when Nashville flooded this year, she jumped to its aid & donated $500,000 the relief effort. She also posed for a picture next to her favorite Nashville landmark to raise additional funds for the cause. Later this year, Taylor joined Scholastic to promote literacy through READ NOW.
2. Alicia Keys
Keep a Child Alive founder Alicia Keys worked harder than ever this year to make sure her organization continued to provide AIDS treatment worldwide. She launched the celeb-packed Digital Death Campaign, raising $1.1 million dollars. Alicia also announced that she and hubby Swizz Beatz adopted a South African village where they will build schools and provide support for the residents.
1. Lady GaGa
In 2010, Lady Gaga had breakout popularity and breakthrough advocacy. Gaga called for the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, walking the VMAs red carpet with service members and speaking at a rally. Her ladyship also hosted the Hands Up for Marriage Equality event supporting same-sex-marriage and was the face of MAC Viva Glam, with 100% of the proceeds going to prevent HIV/AIDS worldwide.
source: This year’s top 20 Celebs Gone Good: [Do Something]
United Airlines today showed off their new “Oprah Winfrey Show Farewell Season Plane” at Chicago-O’Hare Airport this morning, a Boeing 757 painted to commemorate the popular daytime TV star’s final season.
The interior is specially decorated by Oprah herself, and passengers will be greeted with a special video from Winfrey, as well.
United will also perform a number of giveaways to mark the occasion, including Million Miles bonuses, Oprah merchandise and more.
“As Chicago’s hometown airline, United is proud to celebrate The Oprah Winfrey Show’s Farewell Season with our customers, employees and ‘Oprah’ show fans,” said Mark Bergsrud, senior vice president of marketing for United. “This unique plane represents the global reach of two great Chicago icons.”
The special plane will fly through May and then presumably be repainted with the new United logo.
Forbes have released their annual 100 of the most powerful and highest earning celebrities in the world, when compiling the list they looked at how much the celebrities earned and how much star power they have based on media exposure. The list is based from June 2009-June 2010. Here’s the top 15, the full list is after the jump below:
#1 Oprah Winfrey ($315), 2009 Rank: 2
News that this coming season of The Oprah Winfrey Show will be her last helped the self-made billionaire garner more media attention than any other member of the Celebrity 100. Her Harpo production company, which spawned the careers of Dr. Phil, Rachel Ray and Dr. Oz, will introduce interior designer Nate Berkus this fall. Months later, the list’s top-earner will add the lifestyle-themed Oprah Winfrey Network in partnership with Discovery Communications to her media empire.
#2 Beyoncé Knowles ($87), 2009 Rank: 4
One half of the most famous couple in hip-hop, Beyoncé continues to expand her business empire beyond music. Endorsement deals with companies ranging from Nintendo to L’Oreal and her growing House of Dereon fashion line bring in millions of dollars per year on top of the $86 million she grossed from a 93-stop world tour.
#3 James Cameron ($210), 2009 Rank: No Rank
As the director of the highest grossing film of all time, Cameron is definitely “king of the world.” Avatar has earned $2.7 billion at the box office alone and has changed the way Hollywood makes films. In the near future almost every studio blockbuster will be released in 3-D. Cameron is already at work on Avatar 2.
#4 Lady Gaga ($62), 2009 Rank: No Rank
A newcomer to the Celebrity 100, Lady Gaga broke down the door to fame with outlandish outfits and quirky videos, including one that featured her and Beyoncé poisoning an unappreciative boyfriend. Bringing in an estimated $31 million with a 106-date tour that grossed $95 million, Lady Gaga is also a marketer’s dream, teaming up with Polaroid, Virgin Mobile, Monster Cable and Viva Glam.
#5 Tiger Woods ($105), 2009 Rank: 5
Tiger Woods’ fall from global sports icon to tabloid fodder was stunning. He saw Accenture, AT&T and Pepsi drop him as a pitchman, but he remains the highest-paid athlete in the world thanks to huge deals with Nike, Electronic Arts and Upper Deck. Nike built a $650 million (sales) golf business from scratch on Woods’ back. His fledgling golf course design business has been hurt by the economic downturn, as all three courses he’s worked on have experienced major delays.
#6 Britney Spears ($64), 2009 Rank: 13
Not long ago, most of the entertainment world had written Britney Spears off as a celebrity flameout. But over the last year Spears logged the fifth highest-grossing tour in the world, bringing in $130 million in gross box office receipts by playing 98 dates. High-profile endorsement deals with Elizabeth Arden and Candies’ prove that the public expects Spears to stay in the spotlight for good.
#7 U2 ($130), 2009 Rank: No Rank
The world’s biggest rock band, U2 launched a massive world tour in 2009 that has brought in more than $311 million in gross box office receipts. Each tour stop brings in $10 million in gross ticket sales. Add in lucrative merchandise sales, heavy radio play and a steady-selling back catalog, and you have the highest-earning band on the planet.
#8 Sandra Bullock ($56), 2009 Rank: 92
With two hit movies (The Proposal and The Blind Side) and an Oscar win, Bullock should have been sitting on top of the world. She is financially. With $56 million she’s the highest-earning actress. But a messy breakup with cheating husband Jesse James turned her into tabloid fodder. Bullock overcame adversity with news of an adoption and a public return at the MTV Movie Awards.
#9 Johnny Depp ($75), 2009 Rank: No Rank
Depp zooms close to the top of our list this year thanks to his work as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s 3-D update of Alice in Wonderland. The Disney film has grossed $1 billion at the worldwide box office, making Depp the only actor to headline two $1 billion films. Depp also landed a big upfront payday for The Tourist. Costarring Angelina Jolie, the film is a rare case these days of two big stars getting big bucks.
#10 Madonna ($58), 2009 Rank: 3
The Material Girl isn’t quite ready to cede her spot in pop music’s hierarchy to Lady Gaga or Britney Spears just yet. The 52-year-old singer had the fourth highest-grossing tour of 2009, bringing in $6 million a night and $138 million overall. An episode of the Fox hit sitcom Glee, which featured cast members singing several of her songs, added to her already high profile and cushioned her significant earnings from publishing royalties.
#11 Simon Cowell ($80), 2009 Rank: 25
Cowell made perhaps the biggest decision of his life this year when he ended his Idol run in favor of producing his own talent show, The X Factor, in America. Cowell, who also produces America’s Got Talent, says The X Factor format is his favorite. It won’t compete against Idol.
#12 Taylor Swift ($45), 2009 Rank: 69
The most-played artist on the radio in 2009, Swift’s 100 live dates during the last 12 months grossed $54 million. She’s one of the few artists who can still convince millions of fans to legally buy music–her Fearless album topped the 2009 sales charts, moving 3.2 million units, while fans downloaded another 12 million tracks from iTunes and Amazon. Large endorsement deals with Sony and CoverGirl helped her bottom line, too.
#13 Miley Cyrus ($48), 2009 Rank: 29
The teen star behind Disney’s lucrative Hannah Montana franchise has now matured into a serious entertainment draw, averaging a nightly gross box office of $1.2 million across 57 tour dates. A starring role in the movie The Last Song, heavy radio play for her hit “Party in the U.S.A.” and her cut from all of those Disney shirts with her face on them add up to a large bump over her earnings from last year.
#14 Kobe Bryant ($48), 2009 Rank: 10
Kobe Bryant signed a three-year, $83.5 million extension in April with the Los Angeles Lakers that will make him the highest-paid player in the NBA. He will be only the second player in NBA history with a $30 million salary (Michael Jordan in the late ’90s was the first). His salary this past year was $23 million. Bryant led the Lakers to their fifth title since 2000. Everybody likes a winner: Bryant’s jersey is the NBA’s top seller in the U.S., China and Europe.
#15 Jay-Z ($63), 2009 Rank: 32
Jay-Z likes to say he’s not a businessman; he’s a business, man–and it’s not idle boasting. The rapper-turned-mogul retains his crown as hip-hop’s cash king thanks to a new album and investments in the 40/40 nightclub chain, the Broadway show “Fela!” and the New Jersey Nets basketball team. Jay-Z’s biggest boost comes from his Blueprint 3 tour, which grossed over $1 million per concert this year. He still makes less than wife Beyoncé.
There’s some surprises on the list but for me I fully expected Oprah Winfrey to be back on top, I just didn’t think Angelina Jolie would fall from being on top last year down 17 spots this year.
The Huffington Post have put together a list of the 4 biggest winners and losers in the celebrity and media world for this week, first up is the winners:
Oprah: Kitty who? It was the week Oprah took New York by storm: starting with the Costume Institute Gala on Monday, where she walked the red carpet with Oscar de la Renta and partied down with Diddy and Pharrell right through Oprah’s Best Life Weekend, celebrating ten years of O Magazine with a live show from Radio City Music Hall and a New York charity walk on Sunday.
Brian Williams: The “NBC Nightly News” anchor broadcast from oil spill-ravaged gulf region Monday night, while his competitors Katie Couric and Diane Sawyer were dolled up at the Costume Institute Gala. He then rushed back to New York to cover the Times Square bomber arrest. Bonus: he turned 51 on Wednesday.
Rick Stengel: It would have been enough for the TIME Managing Editor to simply have hosted the TIME 100 gala Tuesday, featuring Bill Clinton, Sarah Palin and Taylor Swift. But then the announcement that his main rival, Newsweek, was going up for sale allowed him to brag about his magazine’s sustained profitability.
Conan O’Brien: Finally able to make his case, Conan broke his silence on “60 Minutes” — and delivered ratings to boot. And he effectively got his message across: he’s a good Catholic boy who would never have done that to Leno.
Now let’s take a look at the ones we really care about, the losers:
Jon Meacham: It was supposed to be a good week for the Newsweek editor, who’s launching a new show with Allison Stewart on PBS called “Need To Know.” But then the Washington Post announced it would be selling his magazine, leading the history buff to go on a sad-sack media tour explaining why the world needs Newsweek. Unfortunately, many of his staffers are now saying that Newsweek needs a new editor.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck: The conservative “View” co-host brought ESPN anchor and “Dancing with the Stars” contestant Erin Andrews to tears this week by lashing out over Andrews’ skimpy dancewear and seeming to side with the stalker who peeped into her hotel room to see her naked. She cried the next day, offering up a tearful public apology for her comments.
American Idol: It’s still the #1 show in the country, but there were big and dangerous warning signs for “Idol” this week: on both Tuesday and Wednesday, it hit ratings lows it hasn’t seen since 2002, the year it launched (in the summer, no less). It may have just been a boring Frank Sinatra theme week, With Simon Cowell gearing up to leave at the end of this season already, it doesn’t bode well for the show’s future.
Conan O’Brien: Yes, he made his case on “60 Minutes” — but it may have backfired. The more time he spends complaining about how Big Bad Leno stole the “Tonight Show” from him, the less America remembers why they loved him on it…and the less they look forward to his launch this fall on TBS. Plus, NBC made a splash by saying that he lied during the “60 Minutes” interview.
I guess Conan O’Brien should pat himself on the back, he made both the winners and the losers list, like they say in Hollywood – any press is good press.
Howard Stern has decided to add his two cents on Gabourey Sidibe, who he keeps referring to as the “fat black chick“, being nominated for an Oscar and what kind of future career she could have. Well as far as he is concerned she couldn’t have a career because she is too fat.
Stern and his sidekick Robin Quivers talk about Oprah being a liar for saying Gabourey will have a successful career. They then go on to call her an enormous woman the size of a planet and discuss how everybody in Hollywood is pretending that she’s going to succeed and that they have roles for her. He then says the only part she could play is the big football player in The Blind Side 2.
The two of them also go on to say that she should use her money from Precious to get thin, because she is sick and it’s a terrible thing what she has done to herself (they mean it’s terrible she is fat). They also say that she was seated in an aisle seat because she is too big for regular seats.
Now I’m not going to pretend that Gabourey Sidibe won’t have a hard time in Hollywood because she doesn’t look like the rest of them, but to say she won’t have a career is ridiculous — there are a lot of roles that she could do. The things that Howard Stern is saying disgust me. It takes a lot to pick on an easy target doesn’t it?
PETA have gone and upset Michelle Obama and The White House by using her image in an ad without any consent.
The White House didn’t take too kindly to the ad, which was released today shows Carrie Underwood, Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Tyra Banks along with the slogan “Fur-Free and Fabulous!”
Semonti Stephens, a spokeswoman for the First Lady said “we did not consent.” She then went on to say that “Mrs. Obama does not wear fur.”
PETA are now using this to their advantage and saying “the fact is that Michelle Obama has issued a statement indicating that she doesn’t wear fur, and the world should know that in PETA’s eyes, that makes her pretty fabulous.â€
PETA are tacky in everything they do, regardless of whether they got consent or not, this image is just way to tacky.
