Forbes releases 2013 list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women
German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Credit: Getty Images)
Forbes has released its 2013 list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel took the top spot as one of only two European women to make the top 10. Brazilian President Rousseff and philanthropist Melinda Gates took second and third, respectively. Current First Lady Michelle Obama climbed three spots from last year to reach the fourth spot, while former First Lady Hillary Clinton remained in the top 5, despite no longer being the US Secretary of State.
The list also featured a number of well-known celebrities/philanthropists/entrepreneurs, including Beyonce Knowles, Angelina Jolie, Ellen DeGeneres and Lady Gaga. Colombia was also well-represented, with actress Sophia Vergara and musician Shakira scoring a place on the elite list.
Meanwhile, things were a little less sunny for the UK, as The Queen dropped from #26 last year to #40 on this year's list. Meanwhile, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling dropped just as far, from 78 to 93. However, making this list is nothing to scoff at.
Check out the full list below via Forbes:
1. Angela Merkel
Chancellor, Germany
2. Dilma Rousseff
President, Brazil
3. Melinda Gates
Co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, United States
4. Michelle Obama
First Lady, United States
5. Hillary Clinton
Politician/Philanthropist, United States
6. Sheryl Sandberg
COO, Facebook, United States
7. Christine Lagarde
Managing Director, International Monetary Fund, France
8. Janet Napolitano
Secretary, Department of Homeland Security, United States
9. Sonia Gandhi
President, Indian National Congress, India
10. Indra Nooyi
CEO, PepsiCo, United States
11. Geun-hye Park
President, South Korea
12. Virginia Rometty
CEO, IBM, United States
13. Oprah Winfrey
Entrepreneur, Personality, United States
14. Ursula Burns
Chairman and CEO, Xerox, United States
15. Meg Whitman
CEO, Hewlett-Packard, United States
16. Georgina Rinehart
Executive Chairman, Hancock Prospecting, Australia
17. Beyonce Knowles
Actress, Entrepreneur, Musician, United States
18. Maria das Graças Silva Foster
CEO, Petrobras, Brazil
19. Jill Abramson
Executive Editor, New York Times Co., United States
20. Irene Rosenfeld
CEO, Mondelez International, United States
21. Helen Clark
Administrator, U.N. Development Programme, New Zealand
22. Nancy Pelosi
Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, United States
23. Safra Catz
CFO, Oracle, United States
24. Anne Sweeney
Co-Chair, Disney Media Networks, and President, Disney/ABC Television Group, United States
25. Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services, United States
26. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
President, Argentina
27. Sheri McCoy
CEO, Avon Products, United States
28. Julia Gillard
Prime Minister, Australia
29. Aung San Suu Kyi
Chair and Parliamentarian, National League for Democracy, Burma
30. Susan Wojcicki
Senior Vice President, Google, United States
31. Yingluck Shinawatra
Prime Minister, Thailand
32. Marissa Mayer
CEO, Yahoo, United States
33. Margaret Chan
Director-General, World Health Organization, China
34. Marillyn Hewson
CEO, Lockheed Martin, United States
35. Mary Barra
SVP, Global Product Development, General Motors, United States
36. Amy Pascal
Co-Chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony, United States
37. Angelina Jolie
Actress, Philanthropist, United States
38. Sofia Vergara
Actress, Entrepreneur, Colombia
39. Laurene Powell Jobs & family
Founder and Chair, Emerson Collective, United States
40. Queen Elizabeth II
Monarch, United Kingdom
41. Anna Wintour
Editor-in-Chief, Vogue, Conde Nast Publications, Inc., United States
42. Ellen Kullman
Chairman and CEO, EI du Pont de Nemours, United States
43. Drew Gilpin Faust
President, Harvard University, United States
44. Rosalind Brewer
President and CEO, Sam's Club, Wal-Mart Stores, United States
45. Lady Gaga
Musician, Philanthropist, United States
46. Cher Wang
Co-founder and Chair, HTC, Taiwan
47. Joyce Banda
President, Malawi
48. Wu Yajun & family
Chairman, Longfor Properties, China
49. Ertharin Cousin
Executive Director, World Food Programme, United Nations, United States
50. Zhang Xin & family
Cofounder, CEO, Soho China, China
51. Ellen DeGeneres
Comedian, Personality, Philanthropist, United States
52. Shakira
Musician, Personality, Philanthropist, Colombia
53. Angela Ahrendts
CEO, Burberry Group, United States
54. Liyuan Peng
First Lady, China
55. Sri Mulyani Indrawati
Managing Director, World Bank, Indonesia
56. Arianna Huffington
Editor-In-Chief, Huffington Post Media Group, AOL, United States
57. Padmasree Warrior
Chief Technology and Strategy Officer, Cisco Systems, United States
58. Miuccia Prada
Owner, Fashion Designer, Prada, Italy
59. Margaret Hamburg
Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration, United States
60. Abigail Johnson
President, Financial Services, Fidelity Investments, United States
61. Bonnie Hammer
Chairman, Cable Entertainment Group, NBCUniversal, Comcast, United States
62. Gail Kelly
CEO, Westpac Banking Group, Australia
63. Amy Hood
Chief Financial Officer, Microsoft, United States
64. Ho Ching
CEO, Temasek, Singapore
65. Chanda Kochhar
Managing Director and CEO, Icici Bank, India
66. Rosalia Mera
Investor, Philanthropist, Spain
67. Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi
Minister of Foreign Trade, United Arab Emirates
68. Helene Gayle
President, CEO, CARE, United States
69. Tory Burch
CEO, Tory Burch, United States
70. Margarita Louis-Dreyfus
Chairman of Louis Dreyfus, Louis Dreyfus SAS, Switzerland
71. Patricia Woertz
Chairman, CEO and President, Archer Daniels Midland, United States
72. Mary Jo White
Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission, United States
73. Diane Sawyer
Anchor of World News, ABC, Walt Disney, United States
74. Diane Von Furstenberg
Owner, Fashion Designer, Diane von Furstenberg Studio, L.P., United States
75. Phebe Novakovic
CEO, General Dynamics, United States
76. Sue Naegle
President, HBO Entertainment, Time Warner Cable, United States
77. Sun Yafang
Chair, Huawei Technologies, China
78. Fabiola Gianotti
Research Physicist, CERN, Italy
79. Mary Meeker
General Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, United States
80. Solina Chau
Director, Li Ka Shing Foundation, Hong Kong
81. Denise Morrison
President and CEO, Campbell Soup, United States
82. Carol Meyrowitz
CEO, TJX Cos, United States
83. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Minister of Finance, Nigeria
84. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey
President, CEO, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, United States
85. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
Founder, Chair, Biocon Ltd., India
86. Mary Callahan Erdoes
CEO, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, JPMorgan Chase, United States
87. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
President, Liberia
88. Weili Dai
Co-founder, Marvell Technology Group Ltd., United States
89. Mindy Grossman
CEO, HSN, United States
90. Sara Blakely
Founder, Spanx, United States
91. Chua Sock Koong
Group CEO, SingTel, Singapore
92. Lubna S. Olayan
CEO, Olayan Financing Company, Saudi Arabia
93. J.K. Rowling
Author, United Kingdom
94. Guler Sabanci
Chairman and Managing Director, Sabanci Holding, Turkey
95. Gisele Bundchen
Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Supermodel, Brazil
96. Beth Brooke
Global Vice Chair - Public Policy, Ernst & Young, United States
97. Greta Van Susteren
Anchor, FOX News, News Corp, United States
98. Jennifer Li
CFO, Baidu, China
99. Judith Rodin
President, Rockefeller Foundation, United States
100. Lan Yang
Co-owner, Sun Media Group, China
