Oprah is most powerful celebrity

She can boast a £124million-a-year salary, has her own TV show, production company and charity - and now Oprah Winfrey is officially the world's most powerful celebrity.

The queen of chat, whose weekly show attracts 30million viewers in the US and is aired in 112 countries, took the top spot in Forbes' Celebrity 100 list, knocking actor Mel Gibson from his perch.

Elton John is the only Briton to make the top ten - which ranks stars according to their earnings and press attention, and includes golfer Tiger Woods and actor Tom Cruise.

But David Beckham and Harry Potter author JK Rowling fell down the rankings and the Rolling Stones dropped off completely.

Editor Peter Kafka said: 'The list is full of surprises. For instance Star Wars itself got more coverage than George Lucas.'

Madonna is the highest earning musician on the list, Bill Clinton received the most web hits and the success of Desperate Housewives catapulted the stars to 25.

The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown is at 12 and supermodel Kate Moss achieved 93rd place.