Britney Spears tops magazine 'power' poll

Britney Spears is the most powerful celebrity on the planet, according to a magazine poll that used measurements such as website hits, media appearances and earned wealth as its complex criteria.

Ranking superstars from the fickle worlds of music, showbiz and sport, the survey put the popular vocalist at the top, beating big-profile names such as Bill Clinton and Michael Jordan.

Aged just 20, Spears topped the Forbes Global Celebrity 100 list that ranks the movers and shakers in the celebrity world.

Spears shot up from fourth place in 2001 to take the title in the poll. The singer raked in $39.2m (£26m) last year, had nearly a million web hits, appeared on the cover of 10 magazines and appeared on TV or radio 373 times.

The golfer Tiger Woods was second in the rankings, followed by film director Steven Spielberg and then Madonna.

British entries on the list are few and far between. Sir Elton John is the highest ranking Brit at 25, followed by Harry Potter author J K Rowling at 34, boxer Lennox Lewis at 38 and guitar legend Eric Clapton at 52.

Irish supergroup U2 are at number five with amassed earnings of £46m.

Ozzy Osbourne and his family have made it to number 85 after MTV's fly-on-the-wall show The Osbournes became a massive hit both in the US and over here.

The family earned $1.6m last year and have signed a multi-million pound deal to film a new series of the show about the former Black Sabbath frontman, wife Sharon and children Kelly and Jack.

Actress Jennifer Aniston is at number 28 with earnings last year of $24m, however, her husband Brad Pitt is nowhere to be seen on the list.

The other female Friends stars, Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox-Arquette, also make the list but Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Matt Le Blanc do not.

There was bad news for last year's number one Tom Cruise who has crashed out of the top 100 altogether.

He will note that his ex-wife Nicole Kidman is at number 27.

The Top 20 - the power list

1 Britney Spears
2 Tiger Woods
3 Steven Spielberg
4 Madonna
5 U2
6 N Sync
7 Mariah Carey
8 Oprah Winfrey
9 Michael Jordan
10 Tom Hanks
11 George Lucas
12 Jennifer Lopez
13 Julia Roberts
14 Stephen King
15 Ben Affleck
16 Mel Gibson
17 Bruce Willis
18 Bill Clinton
19 Backstreet Boys
20 Cameron Diaz