Gaga Beats Oprah on Forbes Top 100

She wasn’t born this way.

Forbes recently named Lady Gaga as the most powerful celebrity, outshining other celebrity moguls like U2, Elton John, and even Oprah.

According to Forbes, Gaga grossed an estimated $170 million from her recent 137-date tour. She ranks number one on web, is first in social ranks, and third in television and radio. (She’s only the 7th most powerful woman, though). An estimated 15 million albums have been sold across the globe. Not to mention, she’s had endorsements with big names like Polaroid, Virgin Moble, and Viva Glam.

For an NYU dropout named Stephanie Germanotta, that’s not too shabby.

Meanwhile, the omnipresent Oprah came in second place, though her net worth is somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.7 billion. Though “The Oprah Winfrey Show” is coming to a close, Oprah’s trying to make her own network, OWN, work.

She said goodbye to her show Wednesday, after 25 years on the air.

But why, exactly, did Gaga beat Oprah? “Because of her social media power,” Forbes editor Dorothy Pomerantz said. “She’s the best example of how celebrities will need to manage their careers in the coming years.”

Justin Bieber, now 17, respectably came in third.

Selected Reading: Forbes, BBC

Contact Us