Oprah Winfrey has usurped Tom Cruise as the most powerful celebrity in the world while David Beckham has finally conquered America with his imminent move to Los Angeles.

The annual Forbes celebrity list was published yesterday, ranking the most famous figures of a celebrity-obsessed age on their earnings, the number of magazine covers they made, their internet presence, their press clippings and the frequency with which they are mentioned on television and radio.

Winfrey, 53, has reclaimed the top spot that she lost last year, largely due to her phenomenal earning power. She made $260 million (£131.8 million) in the last year, more than double anyone else on the list.

Her long-running talk show pulls in 30 million viewers a week, while her book club has changed the face of the publishing industry. Forbes also cited her “enduring influence on the US public, which could see her affecting the outcome of next year’s US elections”.

Winfrey is followed by the golfer Tiger Woods, who made history as the first sportsman to earn $100 million in a year, and Madonna, who returns to the list in third place after a successful tour. Britons feature strongly, with the Rolling Stones and Elton John both making it into the Top Ten thanks to estimated pay cheques of $88 million and $53 million respectively in the last calendar year.

Beckham, who yesterday confirmed that his summer move to LA Galaxy is still on despite recent speculation that he might stay at Real Madrid, jumped from 43rd in the list to 15th with estimated earnings of $33 million.

The world’s best-known boy wizard has a potent presence with J. K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, in 48th place ($32 million) and Daniel Radcliffe ($15 million) and Emma Watson ($4 million), the child stars of the Potter films, making the rankings at 79 and 97 respectively.

Other Britons on the list include Simon Cowell in 21st place ($45 million), U2 in 22nd ($30 million), Keira Knightley in 71st and Kate Moss in 74th place, both with $9 million.

After a lean year in 2006 when only Cruise, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas made the top 15, Hollywood returns with a vengeance. Johnny Depp, who earned $92 million last year, is in sixth place, pipped by Brad Pitt who is in fifth. Spielberg is tenth, Tom Hanks is eleventh and Angelina Jolie is at fourteen.

Cruise scrambles to eighth place, having endured a roller-coaster 12 months. Paramount Pictures dumped him after a 14-year-old business relationship, claiming that he had cost the studio up to $150 million (£78m) in lost revenues on Mission: Impossible III.

But Cruise bounced back with a star-studded wedding to the actress Katie Holmes in Italy.

He then became a movie mogul when he took over United Artists, the studio founded in an era when stardom was about something more intangible than annual earnings and newspaper clippings.

The list is published in the forthcoming issue of Forbes magazine, out in the UK on June 15.

The leading 50

1 Oprah Winfrey
2 Tiger Woods
3 Madonna
4 Rolling Stones
5 Brad Pitt
6 Johnny Depp
7 Elton John
8 Tom Cruise
9 Jay-Z
10 Steven Spielberg
11Tom Hanks
12 Grey's Anatomy cast
13 Howard Stern
14 Angelina Jolie
15 David Beckham
16 Phil Mickelson
17 David Letterman
18 Bon Jovi
19 Donald Trump
20 Celine Dion
21 Simon Cowell
22 U2
23 Kobe Bryant
24 Michael Schumacher
25 Shaquille O'Neal
26 Jay Leno
27 Nicole Kidman
28 Ben Stiller
29 Alex Rodriguez
30 Dr Phil McGraw
31 Ronaldinho
32 50 Cent
33 Brian Grazer/Ron Howard
34 Justin Timberlake
35 Michael Jordan
36 Rush Limbaugh
37 Tim McGraw
38 Roger Federer
39 Jerry Bruckheimer
40 George Clooney
41 Kimi Raikkonen
42 Jerry Seinfeld
43 Sean (Diddy) Combs
44 Jennifer Aniston
45 Adam Sandler
46 Oscar De La Hoya
47 Cast of Desperate Housewives
48 LeBron James
49 J. K. Rowling
50 Derek Jeter

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