Forbes has released its annual list of the world’s 100 “Most Powerful Celebrities”. You already know there are plenty of familiar names on this list.

Pop the top to find out who is number one…

It used to be enough for a celebrity to act or sing or swing a bat really well. Now to be considered a real success, he or she needs to sell clothes, hawk fragrances–maybe even invest in technology startups.

While she hasn’t stormed Silicon Valley just yet, Jennifer Lopezis a state-of-the-art celebrity success story. With $52 million in earnings over the last 12 months and a massive amount of fame, Lopez lands at No. 1 on our Celebrity 100 list for the first time.

A few years ago it looked like Lopez was done. Her albums, like the all-Spanish Como Ama una Mujer, failed to find the broad audience she once enjoyed. Her movies, like El Cantante, flopped.

Then in 2010 the singer landed a judge’s chair on American Idol. The job gave her a platform to promote her music and turn her image around. It didn’t hurt that she also split from her husband, Marc Anthony. Suddenly a single mother, Lopez lapped up the media attention and scored lucrative endorsement deals with companies like L’Oreal and Gillette. She now has a line of clothing at Kohl’s, a top-selling fragrance and she was able to secure a nice bump—to $20 million–on herIdol salary for a second season. With 6.6 million followers on Twitter and 12 million fans on Facebook, she’s also proved a master of social media.

Lopez unseats Lady Gaga, who topped the list last year. The pop star slides to fifth place this time around with $52 million in earnings, down from $90 million last year (Gaga didn’t tour much in the last 12 months). Her new album, Born This Way, was still a smash hit, selling 1 million copies its first week out.

In second place is Oprah Winfrey, whom Gaga unseated for No. 1 last year. Winfrey had a rough 12 months. Her 25-year syndication run ended in May but she still managed to earn more than anyone else on the list ($165 million) thanks to her empire of spin-off shows (Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray) her magazine and her radio deal with Sirius XM. Winfrey doesn’t earn any money from the struggling OWN cable network. The talk-show legend will now turn her full attention to trying to improve things at OWN.

Ranking third: Justin Bieber. Only 18, Bieber is making his second appearance on our list. The star earned $55 million in the past year thanks to touring and record sales, but as he explains in our cover story, Bieber is more than just a pop star. He’s also a budding venture capitalist. Bieber has used his fame and fortune to invest in startup companies likeSpotify, Tinychat and Enflick.

With most of our lists we keep it strictly on the money: earnings or net worth. The Celebrity 100 is a little different. This list–which includes film and television actors, TV personalities, models, athletes, authors, musicians and comedians–is based on money and fame. We define fame as media visibility in print, television, radio and online, plus social media power, which we measure by looking at each celebrity’s presence on Facebook and Twitter. The earnings consist of pretax income between May 1, 2011, and May 1, 2012. Management, agent and attorney fees are not deducted. Forbes has been publishing the list annually since 1999.

Crunching all those numbers always ensures we have an interesting slew of new people on the list; this year, Kim and Khloe Kardashian made the cut. Say what you want about the sisters, they know how to stay famous and earn millions. Thanks to the money she earned from her wedding (and the publicity she earned from her divorce just a few months later), Kim ranks seventh with $18 million. Khloe, who now has her own successful spin-off show (Khloe and Lamar), ranks 73rd with $11 million.

Another newcomer: Ashton Kutcher. The actor, who took over the lead onTwo and a Half Men following Charlie Sheen’s very public meltdown, is now one of the highest-paid men on television. (Sheen failed to make the list this year.) He’s also a savvy tech investor who managed to get in early on companies like Skype, Spotify and Airbnb, which is now worth a reported $1 billion. Kutcher, who is a Twitter superstar, got plenty of press attention this year for his personal life as well as his professional life. He split from his wife of six years, Demi Moore, last fall. The actor debuts in 51st place with $24 million.

Full List:

1. Jennifer Lopez – $52 million

2. Oprah Winfrey- $165 million

3. Justin Bieber- $55 million

4. Rihanna-            $53 million

5. Lady Gaga- $52 million

6. Britney Spears- $58 million

7. Kim Kardashian- $18 million

8. Katy Perry- $45 million

9. Tom Cruise- $75 million

10. Steven Spielberg- $130 million

11. Taylor Swift- $57 million

12. Tiger Woods- $58 million

13. Angelina Jolie- $20 million

14. Donald Trump- $63 million

15. LeBron James- $53 million

16. Beyonce Knowles- $40 million

17. Elton John- $80 million

18. Simon Cowell- $90 million

19. Rush Limbaugh- $69 million

20. Tyler Perry- $105 million

Read the rest of the list RIGHT HERE!

This girl is about to get pizzzaaaaiiid!

Via TMZ

Britney Spears and “X Factor” have struck a deal that will line the singer’s pocket to the tune of $15 million for next season … TMZ has learned.

We’re told Britney’s team and “X Factor” big wigs are working out “the fine points” of the deal, but the major terms are locked.

Once the final contract is drafted and signed … it will go to Jamie Spears, Britney’s daddy and conservator, as well as lawyers for the conservatorship. If they sign off, it must then go to the judge who oversees the conservatorship for approval.

Sources connected with the deal tell us … it’s a “virtual certainty” everyone will sign off. By the way, we’re told Jason Trawick is “very involved” in the negotiations.

Simon Cowell, the “X Factor” Executive Producer, told us on TMZ Live Tuesday, “I would love to have her on the show. I think she would be a fascinating person to sit next to.” Simon said they may make an announcement within a week.

Britney would fill one of two vacant seats on the judging panel. She’s also way more expensive than the castoffs — Nicole Scherzinger reportedly pulled in $1.5 million, while Paula Abdul raked in $2.5 mil.

Image Source

Mediaoutrage- Now that’s real chedda right chea!

Nicki Minaj and Britney Spears posed for a picture backstage at the Femme Fetale tour in Toronto. Nice photo.

Britney Spears is struggling to sell concert tickets ya’ll:

Britney Spears is apparently not the sure-fire concert draw she once was. Since lot of current or former fans have apparently decided not to hit that “BUY” button one more time after all, the web discounter Groupon has been selling 50%-off tickets for more than half the shows on Spears’ 33-city tour. And not even all those half-price tickets have gotten snatched up.

The tour opened Thursday night in Sacramento to what the local paper described as a sell-out crowd. But a week prior to the show, Groupon offered $59 face-value tickets for a bargain basement price of $30. Groupon’s web site shows that 1,400 people took the Sacramento offer before it sold out. But since there was a maximum of 8 tickets allowed per sale, that means there could have been anywhere from 1,400 to 11,200 people getting into the arena via the last-minute half-price offer. Similar deals have been offered in 18 cities on the tour.

Is this a sign of the public’s enormous Britney fatigue, a wave of the ticketing future, or both?

Live Nation, which is promoting Spears’ tour, announced a partnership with Groupon in early May, and you won’t hear them use words like “discounting.” “Offering a deal on Groupon is not a reflection of the quality or status or sales of a show,” said a Live Nation spokesperson, but rather “segmented marketing and a way to reach new and additional consumers.” The spokesperson said Groupon promotions “proactively address two related issues: unsold inventory and industry awareness challenges.”

In other words: Better to have a full (or near-full) house, whether or not everyone paid top dollar… plus, the promotion itself helps remind people who never go to concerts anymore that they still exist.

Offering last-minute half-price tickets for shows may be good business. But it does present a perception problem when it involves as high-profile a partner as Groupon and as high-profile a tour as Spears’, since it sends out a very public “NOT SRO” message.

And there’s plenty of sitting room available at most of Spears’ shows on this tour—not just the cheaper seats, which represent most of Groupon’s deals, but premium ones, too. A few days before her June 20 L.A. Staples Centre gig, a pair of seats in the 12th row of the loge section could be had on Ticketmaster for $175 each, plus $18.40 “convenience charge” each, for a total of $386.80. That’s an expensive date—or, more likely, expensive girls’ night out, judging from press accounts of a predominantly female crowd at the shows so far.

And even the half-off deal is not enough is some cities where Groupon didn’t sell out their one-day offers. In Atlantic City, only 229 people took up the half-price offer, according to the site. In Seattle, 1,211 took the deal. In Cleveland, it was 921. In Detroit, 1,877 bought anywhere from 1-8 tickets at $30 each, leaving 123 offers still on the table at day’s end. In Cleveland. But in Portland, Groupon sold out all 2,000 opportunities to buy tickets at $20 each.

The news isn’t any better for Spears’ flailing Femme Fatale album. It came out in late March with decent if not overwhelming first-week sales of 276,000. But after 11 weeks in stores, the album has sold only 558,000 copies—meaning almost half the total to date was sold that first week. It’s the 11th bestselling album of the year so far, which, in 2011, is not saying a lot. Britney may have legs, butFemme Fatale doesn’t.

If you’re looking for any kind of wrinkle in this seemingly inevitable tale of commercial decline it may be this: One-time Britney fans may be avoiding the tour because of the nearly universal expectation at this point that she will be lip-synching every song and doing more of a walk-through than actual choreography. But, based on reports from opening night, everyone may have underestimated her, at least by a little.

Writing from a dress rehearsal show to which he was invited, Perez Hilton said, “I’d say Britney sings at least 40 percent of the show, which is really awesome considering the fact that at the last tour she lip-synched every single song, even the ballads. As a fan, that’s a sign to me that she’s trying, she’s giving, and I love that.” Hilton doesn’t mean that to sound like damning with faint praise, so take that relative gushing for what you will.

Fan reports from the dress rehearsal and opening night have largely corroborated Hilton’s estimation of what is live and what is Memorex. One commenter who seemed to be in the know said that much of the show consists of Spears singing along live with pre-recorded tracks she did especially for the tour (as opposed to the original studio vocals). As anyone who’s seen one of Spears’ other recent tours can attest, any overtly live singing at all is a big evolution… and perhaps a reaction to the flurry of criticism that has attended all her obviously canned TV appearances of late.

Those dispiriting TV spots also lessened expectations that Spears would be sacrificing the vocals to do what she does (or did) best, dance. But fan reports and YouTube videos suggest that Spears does participate in an extensive amount of choreography in the show, if not necessarily the most demanding moves she’s ever done.

Monday morning quarterbacks in the music industry may be debating for quite a while: Did Spears sabotage her own tour with the listless, lifeless TV appearances that were done to promote the album release? Or would the syndrome of diminishing returns just naturally have left her in this position in her career anyway?

Well, those won’t be the only questions. In the touring industry, expect plenty of chatter about what constitutes reasonable pricing for a tour that apparently attracts mostly girls and young women, versus guys willing to spend big bucks to impress a date. Anyway, Spears’ real demographic may finally have been identified, and it’s not necessarily teen girls, gays, or even the aging male critics who largely gave Femme Fatale a pass. It’s… coupon cutters.

Source

Mediaoutrage- That’s the lifeblood of an artist…those tour checks!

Here’s Britney Spears on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar.

MO you feelin’ the cover?

More from the spread…

Enrique Iglesias was acting too important to open up for Britney on her tour so she has went and recruited someone ya’ll are way more familiar with:

TMZ has learned Britney Spears has lasered in on Nicki Minaj as her opening act for the upcomingconcert tour … and lawyers for the two are in “serious talks.”

We’re told it’s looking very good that Nicki and Britney will reach an agreement in the next day or so.

Nicki would take the place of Enrique Iglesias — who bailed at the last minute because his ego could not take opening for Britney.

Nicki is currently on tour with Lil Wayne — those concerts end on April 28. Britney’s tour begins June 17 in Sacramento.

Source

Mediaoutrage- We don’t see Nicki turning this one down. Britney is huge and it will only continue to give Nicki the exposure she wants and make incredible bank in the process.

Britney Spears’ ex business partner is getting at that azz for underhanded dealings to the tune of $10 million.

Peep game

Pop singer Britney Spears is being sued by her former business partners for breach of contract, fraud and deceit, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.

The 29-year-old Baby One More Time hit-maker was slapped with the $10 millionlawsuit on Wednesday which centers around her Radiance fragrance and multi-million dollar branding deal with beauty giant Elizabeth Arden, worth $15 million each year.

In the sensational suit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Britney and her father Jamie are accused of being “sneaky and underhanded” in their clandestine moves to cut Brand Sense Partner, LLC., out of a licensing agreement.

“Britney secretly made a separate deal with Elizabeth Arden in a sneaky underhanded effort to circumvent and evade its obligations to Brand Sense,” the suit states.

“Effectively, Britney improperly and illegally cut Brand Sense out of the Elizabeth Arden deal.”

Brand Sense accuses Britney of “concealment and evasive actions.”

Jamie, who remains his trouble’s daughter’s conservator, was allegedly caught “red handed” acting on behalf of the singer.

“Brand Sense had a contractual right to a 35% commission on any Britney Spears-branded fragrance sold by Elizabeth Arden,” the suit claims.

“But Mr. Spears complained that the commission was too high and said that Britney did not want to pay it.”

A compromise deal was orchestrated, which would have delivered royalties directly to Britney.

However, the alleged scheme did not come to light until Elizabeth Arden sent a letter to Britney and Brand Sense, dated February 16, 2011, enclosing a revised royalty report which excluded the Radiance scent.

The agreement was nothing more than a “rouse and a cover-up for” for the Spears’ “fraudulent scheme,” it’s alleged.

Spears released Radiance, the ninth scent in her collection, in September, last year.

Brand Sense is seeking declaratory relief in excess of $10 million, as well as compensatory and punitive damages.

Source

Mediaoutrage- It be’s that way sometimes where you just want to cut the middle man out of all his/her CAKE. Smh.

Britney Spears landed on the cover of OUT magazine and had this to say concerning life and her career:

When you were starting out, whose career did you want to mold yours after?

Madonna. No question. She is an amazing entertainer. Besides Madonna, I also admire Sarah Jessica Parker’s career and her shoe collection.

Assuming reincarnation exists, in my next life I’d life to be…
A bird, so I can fly.

My idea of hell is…
Being on a diet.

What is the worst advice a record executive ever told you?
Someone once told me that the “…Baby One More Time” video should be me as a superhero fighting a giant robot monster.

How is Femme Fatale different from your other albums?
I think Femme Fatale is my most upbeat and mature album yet.

Britney Spears is putting some of those millions to work as she recently copped a $12,900,000 mansion in Hidden Hills, CA.

Take a peek inside and leave your thoughts

BUYER: Britney Spears
LOCATION: Hidden Hills, CA
PRICE: $12,900,000 (list price)
SIZE:19,107 square feet, 10 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms

Source

This is Britney Spears’ new album cover.

MO you feelin’ it??