Forbes' Most Powerful Celebrities list

This could be a companion to the thread about feeling old, because I've not consumed one iota of information about a lot of these folks:

http://www.forbes.com/celebrities/

Full list is at the link, but here's the top 20:

1. Jennifer Lopez
2. Oprah Winfrey
3. Justin Bieber
4. Rihanna
5. Lady Gaga
6. Britney Spears
7. Kim Kardashian
8. Katy Perry
9. Tom Cruise
10. Steven Spielberg
11. Taylor Swift
12. Tiger Woods
13. Angelina Jolie
14. Donald Trump
15. LeBron James
16. Beyonce Knowles
17. Elton John
18. Simon Cowell
19. Rush Limbaugh
20. Tyler Perry

Of those, only 11 have done at least one thing to give me enjoyment.

 

Beyonce is higher than Jay-Z. That's funny...

 

Glenn Beck made $80 million last year? Holy crap...

 

Yeah, that struck me as odd, too.

I'm also surprised that Bieber is so high. I know he's making a lot of money, but does he really have power? Influence?

I guess the same questions go for several others on that list, but he's the highest of them.

 

He's got something like 22 million followers on Twitter. I read somewhere that Floyd Mayweather sort of recruited Bieber to be part of his entourage a couple of weeks ago in order to tap into that following when Bieber tweeted about it. I would suspect that the vast majority of his followers are teen girls, so I'm not sure how much interest in boxing that might generate, though. On the other hand, if he tweets about some product and that drives sales, that gives him power, no?

 

I don't have a problem with Bieber being where he is. He's kind of following the Usher and Jay-Z model where he's doing a lot of producing and is investing in a lot of companies...

 

I don't know, I don't really define being a pitchman as having power.

Would anyone take Bieber's opinion seriously about anything other than what brand of sneakers to wear or soda to drink?

Jay-Z, for instance, despite making less money, I would think has more influence, whether on music, sports, fashion or even politics.

Steven Spielberg, I would think, wields considerably more "power" than Justin Bieber.

 

I just read the article that defines how Forbes defines "power" :

Under that criteria, I suppose Bieber is fine where he is, but I'd argue money and fame do not equal power.

Spielberg could probably have Bieber killed and dumped in the Vegas desert and make Kim Kardashian take the fall. That's power, my friend.

 

It should say influential and not powerful...

Agree about Spielberg. People like him and Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer and some of the other producers on there have far more power than those who are primarily just entertainers...

 

Is 'TV personality' a euphemism for 'well known despite lacking any discernible skill, talent or ability'?

 

11? For me it might be one, or two. Depending on how we define enjoyment.

 

Trying to explain Jennifer Lopez at number one is kind of like explaining that BYU was once the national football champion. My dad's been dead 12 years and has more acting skills than she does. Her new movie screams train wreck, which is par for the course for her since Selena.