14 DAY TRIAL // Forbes magazine has just issued its annual list of the world’s most powerful women: filled with singers, actresses and politicians, Michelle Obama ranked in at number one this year.
However, the magazine celebrates all the women it has included on the list for the way they shape current conversation and, this way, manage to operate important changes on a worldwide scale, E! Online says.
While the first three positions of the chart are not really that surprising, one going to the US First Lady, one to Irene Rosenfeld, CEO of Kraft Foods, and the other to the official Queen of Television Oprah Winfrey, Forbes also has some rather interesting picks.
“Obama, along with Oprah Winfrey (queen of Hollywoodland but a mere third in this case), Lady Gaga, Ellen DeGeneres, Angelina Jolie, E!’s own Chelsea Handler and love-or-hate-her Sarah Palin, are ‘shaping many of the agenda-setting conversations of our day’ and ‘driving meaningful change across the world’,” E! says.
However, only one single woman of the lot comes even close to the way Mrs. Obama and Oprah rule their “realm of influence with an iron fist” and that person is singer Lady Gaga.
“That would be 24-year-old Lady Gaga, who at No. 7 is the highest-ranking performer and the youngest woman on the entire list,” E! says.
“Her perch in the top 10 also places her above Washington power brokers like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor,” the same publication notes.
Number 4 on the list goes to Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, while Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, ranks in at number 5.
Ahead of Gaga, at number 6 comes Indra Nooyi, the CEO of PepsiCo, while Gail Kelly, CEO of Westpac Bank, Australia, lands at number 8.
Bootylicious singer and fashion designer Beyonce is at number 9, while US talk show host Ellen DeGeneres rounds up the top 10.
“The ubiquitous Palin comes in at No. 16, while Jolie, Katie Couric, Madonna and Handler are sitting pretty at Nos. 21, 22, 29 and 33, respectively,” E! says of the rest of the positions.
“Other names you may recognize from your daily media consumption: Heidi Klum (39), Meredith Vieira (40), Sarah Jessica Parker (45), Diane Sawyer (46), Twilight author Stephenie Meyer (49), Serena and Venus Williams (55, 60), Gisele Bündchen (72), Rachael Ray (78) and Martha Stewart (99),” the publication adds.
Queen Elizabeth is also on the list, at number 41.