Forbes World’s Most Powerful Women 2010

First Lady Michelle Obama is the World’s Most Powerful Women, according to the latest ranking from Forbes Magazine.

This year’s list of the Most Powerful Women on Earth brands singer Lady Gaga more powerful than the woman who is second-in-line to the US presidency, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Mrs. O joins media moguls Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres as one of the most-powerful women on the planet, the Finance Bible said this week. Pop stars Lady Gaga and Beyonce — who collaborated on the single “Telephone” — came seventh and ninth respectively joining a host of political leaders, including Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in the annual poll.

This year’s rankings — which are divided into four groups: politics, business, media, and lifestyle — which includes entertainment, sports and fashion — were based more on creative influence and entrepreneurship, says Moira Forbes, Vice-President and Publisher of Forbes Woman.

“The women on our list, through their respective realms of power and influence, are shaping many of the agenda setting conversations of our day. They have built companies and brands, sometimes by non-traditional means, and they have broken through gender barriers in areas of commerce, politics, sports and media and cultural zeitgeist, and thereby affecting the lives of millions, sometimes billions of people.”

Other phenomenal women, who cracked the Top 100 are: Madonna (29th), France First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy (35th), model Heidi Klum (39th), TODAY host Meredith Vieira (40th), Queen Elizabeth II (41st), Sarah Jessica Parker (45th), ABC’s Diane Sawyer (46th), Twilight author Stephenie Meyer (49th), tennis players Serena Williams (55th) and Venus Williams (60th), Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour (56th), fashion designer Vera Wang (91st), and domestic goddess Martha Stewart (99th).

Top 25 of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women of 2010, according to Forbes Magazine:

Michelle Obama
Irene Rosenfeld
Oprah Winfrey
Angela Merkel
Hillary Clinton
Indra Nooyi
Lady Gaga
Gail Kelly
Beyonce Knowles
Ellen DeGeneres
Nancy Pelosi
Angela Braly
Janet Napolitano
Cynthia Carroll
Sheila Bair
Sarah Palin
Mary Schapiro
Ellen Kullman
Sonia Sotomayor
Ursula Burns
Angelina Jolie
Katie Couric
Kathleen Sebelius
Anne Lauvergeon
Elena Kagan