Forbes Magazine's "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women of 2010"

Michelle Obama tops ‘2010 World’s 100 Most Powerful Women’ list

America’s First Lady, Michelle Obama has been named as the most powerful woman in the world by Forbes Magazine.

This year’s annual Forbes Magazine’s list of most powerful women ranked the First Lady ahead of other women who are head of states, top executives and celebrities throughout the world.

The list ranked TV show star, Oprah Winfrey as the third most powerful woman in the world. That places the media mogul one place behind the Chief Executive of Kraft Foods, Irene Rosenfield. Rosenfield led Kraft Foods $18 billion hostile takeover of Britain’s Cadbury.

The list has German Chancellor, Angela Merkel as the fourth most powerful woman in the world. Angela Merkel was elected for another term as Germany leader last year. The United State’s Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, completes the top five list.

“They have built companies and brands, sometimes by non-traditional means and they have broken through gender barriers in areas of commerce, politics, sports and media and cultural zeitgeist, and thereby affecting the lives of millions, sometimes billions of people,” according to Moira Forbes, vice president and publisher of ForbesWoman.

Other women that made it to the top ten list of powerful women are PepsiCo Inc Chief Executive Officer, Indra Nooyi, pop star Lady Gaga, Australia Westpac banking Corp Chief Executive Officer, Gail Kelly, singer Beyonce Knowles and talk show star Ellen DeGeneres.

Lady Gaga is on the Forbes powerful women’s list

Pop singer and icon Lady Gaga has it made to the list of the most powerful women in the world. The singer is the youngest woman on this year’s list which is published by Forbes Magazine annually.

The annual list is compiled by Forbes to acknowledge influential women from all over the world.

Lady Gaga was named as the seventh most powerful woman in the universe. She was described as “the new queen of pop” who “single-handedly reinvigorated pop music and pop culture”.

The singer was not the only singer on the list. Beyonce Knowles was also named in the top ten most powerful women in the world.

The United States First Lady, Michelle Obama, topped the list. The CEO of Kraft Foods, Iren Rosenfield, followed her. Oprah Winfrey was on the list as the third most powerful woman in the world. Angela Merker followed her, before Hilary Clinton completes the list of top five women in the world.

The head of PepsiCo Inc, Indra Nooyi was named on the list as the sixth most powerful woman in the world with Lady Gaga taking the seventh position. Gail Kelly, the Chief Executive of Australia’s Westpac Banking Corp was named as the 8th most powerful woman with Beyonce Knowles and Ellen DeGeneres completing the list of the top ten most powerful women in the world, according to Forbes.

Source: thaindian.com

Starting in 2004, Forbes magazine has made a list of the 100 most powerful women in the world. It is edited by editor Mary Ellen Egan, and based on visibility and economic impact.Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany and Julia Gillard, Prime-minister of Australia are understood to be the world's most powerful female heads of government.

Philippines' former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been included on the elite lists during the year 2004 and 2005 at No.9 and No.4 respectively.