For the second year in a row, Johnny Depp ranks #6 on the Forbes “Celebrity 100” . . . that’s the magazine’s “list of the world’s most powerful–and best-paid–celebrities.” According to Forbes, Oprah Winfrey remains the most powerful celebrity, followed by (in order) Tiger Woods, Angelina Jolie, Beyonce Knowles, David Beckham, Johnny Depp, Jay-Z, The Police, J. K. Rowling, and Brad Pitt. “He became an unlikely mainstream star with his boozy turn as Captain Jack Sparrow in the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN series,” notes Forbes of JD. “Last year he found time to star in his pal Tim Burton’s movie version of SWEENEY TODD, which grossed $154 million. He earned his third Best Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”

The Forbes list is mainly a measure of how much a star earns and how often his/her name and face appear in the media; it does not attempt to assess artistic merit. Here’s Forbes’s explanation of how they compile their rankings: “To generate the list, Forbes estimates celebrity earnings, then factors in media metrics like Google hits, press mentions as compiled by Factiva, TV/radio mentions from Lexis/Nexis and the number of times an A-lister appears on the cover of more than 50 consumer magazines.”

The Zone thanks Squeaky Door and FANtasticJD for the news; you can read more about the Forbes Celebrity 100 on the News & Views forum. –Part-Time Poet