Forbes’ 100 (Somewhat Surprising) Most Powerful Women In The World

Forbes Magazine has unveiled its 100 Most Powerful Women in the World list and once again it’s bursting at the seams with CEO’s, world leaders and political figures. 

As expected, influential names like Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Melinda Gates, Oprah and Sheryl Sandberg make a prominent appearance in the Top 20, but some surprise contenders like Beyoncé, Shakira and Sophia Vergara nudged their way into the 50 Most Powerful rankings.

So why would Vergara – the highest-paid actress on television (earning $30million last year) – come in at number 32, ahead of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II? The elite candidate pool is selected form eight different categories: billionaires, business, celebrity, finance, media, philanthropy and NGOs, politics and technology. Forbes’ Caroline Howard explains further, “To determine the rank within each category, as well as overall rank on the list of 100, we apply four metrics: money, media presence, spheres of influence and impact”.

Among the top 50 were also humanitarian Angelina Jolie (50th), talk-show queen Ellen Degeneres (46), Shakira who ranked at 58 for being the most ‘liked’ person on Facebook, and news personality Arianna Huffington at 52nd place.

Introducing the Forbes Top 20 Most Powerful Women in the World:

1. Angela Merkel, German Chancellor
2. Janet Yellen, Chair of the Federal Reserve, Washington D.C.
3. Melinda Gates, Philanthropist
4. Dilma Rousseff, President of Brasil
5. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
6. Hillary Clinton, US polititian
7. Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors
8. Michelle Obama, First Lady of The United States
9. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook
10. Virginia Rometty, CEO of IBM
11. Guen-hye Park, President of South Korea
12. Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube and Google
13. Indra Nooyi, CEO PepsiCo
14. Oprah Winfrey, Entrepreneur and personality
15. Irene Rosenfeld, CEO of Mondelēz International 
16. Maria das Graças Silva Foster, CEO of Petrobas
17. Beyoncé Knowles, Musician
18. Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo
19. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, President of Argentina
20. Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett-Packard

Who do you think should be included in this list? Tell us your opinion in the comments below…