Beyonce, Oprah, Jolie named among most powerful women

Beyonce Knowles performs on stage during the taping of the third to last Oprah Winfrey Show at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, Tuesday, May 17, 2011. Beyonce, Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie and Sofia Vergara are among the celebrities featured in Forbes magazine's annual list of the world's most powerful women. AFP PHOTO / Peter Wynn Thompson 

In Summary

• The 'Drunk in Love' hitmaker - who has two-year-old daughter Blue Ivy with husband Jay Z - placed 17th in Forbes magazine's annual list of the top 100 female "icons, leaders, groundbreakers and ceiling crashers" worldwide.

By BANG SHOWBIZ
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Beyonce, Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie and Sofia Vergara are among the celebrities featured in Forbes magazine's annual list of the world's most powerful women.


 

The 'Drunk in Love' hitmaker - who has two-year-old daughter Blue Ivy with husband Jay Z - placed 17th in Forbes magazine's annual list of the top 100 female "icons, leaders, groundbreakers and ceiling crashers" worldwide.

Other famous faces to appear on the 100-strong list - which was topped for the ninth time by German Chancellor Angela Merkel - included media mogul and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey, who placed three ahead of Beyonce at 14, 'Modern Family' actress Sofia Vergara, who was 32nd, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and 'Maleficent' star Angelina Jolie, who were 46th and 50th respectively.

Lower down in the list, singer Shakira took 58th place, while fellow chart star Lady Gaga ranked 67th and supermodel Gisele Bundchen was 89th.

The annual Forbes list selected women from eight categories or power bases, billionaires, business, celebrity, finance, media, philanthropy and NGOs, politics and technology and they were then ranked according to money, media presence, spheres of influence and impact.

The final 100 is drawn from an initial list of 250 women.