US TALK show queen Oprah Winfrey leads a list of the world's most influential celebrities, with earnings of $US260 million ($310.1 million) from her vast media empire.
The top ranking is based on income over the past 12 months as well as web references, press clippings, broadcast mentions and major magazine covers devoted to the celebrity, Forbes magazine said on its website.
"Only a combination of earnings and sizzle will land a celebrity a coveted spot on our Celebrity 100," the magazine wrote.
Winfrey, 53, who after an impoverished childhood rose to fame as host of her enormously popular US television talk show, reportedly has a net worth of at least $US1.5 billion from her production company, magazine and television show.
Winfrey has opened a multi-million dollar school in South Africa for poor girls and was recently ranked by a US non-profit group as the most generous celebrity philanthropist, donating more than $US50 million of her fortune to charity last year.
Behind Winfrey, professional golfer Tiger Woods ranked second on the Forbes' list of the most powerful celebrities, raking in $US100 million this year - the first time an athlete has earned that much in a single year, the magazine said. Most of his income came from endorsements.
British football star David Beckham, now playing for a US team in Los Angeles, came in at 15th place with $US33 million in earnings.
Three veteran pop and rock music stars finished in the top ten, with Madonna in third place, the elderly but still bankable Rolling Stones in fourth place and 60-year-old Elton John in seventh.
More Hollywood actors made the list this year, with Brad Pitt in fifth place, Johnny Depp in sixth and Tom Cruise slipping from the No.1 spot to eighth place.
Depp, star of the runaway hit Pirates film series, earned "more money in a single year than almost any other actor in history" with an income of $US92 million, the magazine wrote.
Hip-Hop star Jay-Z came in ninth place with earnings of $US83 million over the past year, considered by the magazine as one of several "Hip-Hop impresarios" who have broadened their commercial influence beyond their music.
The top 100 included 50 Cent, ranking 32nd with earnings of $US33 million and Sean "Diddy" Combs in 43rd place who made $US23 million.
Hollywood director and producer Steven Spielberg still wields big influence in the movie industry, according to Forbes', which put him at tenth place with an income of $US110 million.
Among directors and producers, Jerry Bruckheimer - who produced the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and numerous other hits - was the top money earner with $US120 million.
The mastermind behind the Harry Potter books, JK Rowling, ranked first in earnings among authors with $US32 million in income.
The youngest member of the list was teenage pro golfer Michelle Wie, ranking 74th, who secured $US10 million in endorsements before she turned 16.
The magazine compiled the list using earnings estimates covering June 2005 to June 2006 and only dollars from entertainment income.
