'Forbes' Most Powerful Women List: Lady Gaga Tops Oprah

Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey are battling it out anew, and once again the Born This Way fame monster comes out on top.

The new Forbes list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women is out, naming Gaga to its No. 11 spot, three places above No. 14 Winfrey, who dropped from No. 3. Gaga had already bested the talk show icon earlier this year by toppling Oprah from the top spot on the magazine's Celebrity 100 list.

Though the trend-setting singer and the opinion-making talk-show host may both be No. 1 in our heart, neither woman broke into the Most Powerful Women list's top 10 this year. Atop the chart is German Chancellor Angela Merkel (she does run a country, after all), followed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and then Dilma Rousseff, the president of Brazil (again with the country running).

Among other notables on the list are first lady Michelle Obama at No. 8, Beyoncé Knowles at No. 18, congresswoman Michele Bachmann, making her debut at No. 22, Angelina Jolie at No. 29, Huffington Post editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington at No. 31, Sarah Palin at No. 34, Diane Sawyer at No. 47 and Ellen DeGeneres at No. 55.

As for Gaga (real name: Stefani Germanotta), she pulled ahead of Oprah thanks to earning an estimated $90 million last year, becoming the first Twitter user to reach 12 million followers and snagging 36 million Facebook fans. She also has struck promo deals with Google, Zynga and Gilt; is a financial backer in Backplane, a Silicon Valley start-up founded by her longtime manager Troy Carter; and has helped raise more than $202 million to fight HIV and AIDS through the sales of Gaga-endorsed MAC's VIVA GLAM lipstick and lipgloss.

Forbes didn't mention Gaga's stints as a performer on American Idol, upcoming gig as the opener of MTV's Video Music Awards on Aug. 28, or her Simpsons guest spot debuting on Sept. 25, but we think those should count as well.

As for still dearly beloved Oprah, we can't say she's really doing all that badly, despite her tumble to No. 14 from No. 3. The OWN network founder has a net worth of $2.7 billion, 6.6 million followers on Twitter and 6.1 million fans on Facebook.

We love to see powerful women, no matter what their ranking. For those of you looking for a way to crack the list next year, we suggest you ponder one question first: How do you feel about running a country?

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/forbes-most-powerful-women-list-lady-gaga-tops-oprah/1-a-376326

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