Oprah Winfrey has once again topped Forbes’ list of the most influential people, and it’s safe to say that nobody is surprised with the results; however, some people seem to be quite surprised with the rest of the list.
There are little to no people challenging the fact that Oprah is incredibly influential. The queen of daytime television has a cult like following that will do almost whatever she says – even though she never intended on things being that way.
Whatever her book club is reading suddenly becomes a best seller. Anything that shows up on Oprah’s life of favorite things is suddenly a sensation across the U.S and even over seas. She even changed thousands of opinions about Rihanna after she deemed Chris Brown’s girlfriend as her favorite interviewee.
Even more importantly, Oprah is extremely inspirational for many people. She is a minority woman who has managed to become one of the wealthiest people in the world and that’s something that a lot of other minorities and women can look up to.
As if that wasn’t enough, she serves as a role model for young people who want to start chasing their dreams at a young age. Mrs. Winfrey had her foot in the journalism door when she was barely 18 and never looked back.
Despite not even being on TV anymore, Oprah hasn’t really lost much of her influential powers; however, the amount of people who found her to be the most influential did drop one percent.
In case you’re still doubting just how much power Oprah has, consider the fact that one of her protégés has also ranked pretty high on the list.
Dr. Mehmet Oz came in at number six on the Most Influential list with 40% of the people being polled saying that they do indeed find him to be very influential, and who can argue with that? How many times have you stopped eating your favorite meal and instead opted for some strange smoothie concoction of vegetables and flax seed just because Dr. Oz said it would help you lose weight? Now consider how many websites have given you that same recipe, but you merely laughed it off and kept it moving.
That’s the power of influence.
For 40% of the poll participants, medical tips and tricks just aren’t legit unless Dr. Oz says they are.
The rest of the list was dominated by film directors, Clint Eastwood who is the only full time actor on the list, another leading lady of the talk show business, a woman who does pretty much everything, and a rock band legend. Check out the full list below:
1. Oprah Winfrey
2. Steven Spielberg
3. Martin Scorsese
4. Ron Howard
5. Georgia Lucas
6. Dr. Mehmet Oz
7. Barbara Walters
8. U2’s Bono
9. Suze Orman
10. Clint Eastwood
As with any lists there were a few names that fans were disappointed didn’t make the list, although we don’t necessarily agree.
The Bey Hive exploded when they discovered the Queen of R&B hadn’t made it unto the list. In addition to being exceptionally talented, the fans felt as if Beyonce has major influence on an entire generation and more – which may explain why everyone was so upset about her supposed lip syncing.
“Beyonce isn’t on the influential list? that is trash,” one used tweeted after getting a glance at the list.
Another wrote, “all tht campaigning for Obama and she still wasn influential enuff for yall.”
If we may interject, almost every celebrity in Hollywood was out pushing for Obama or Romney so it isn’t fair to try to push Beyonce to the top of that list just because she was one of the most famous faces.
What we will agree with is that Baddie Bey does indeed have some serious influence over her fans, but that’s the key word. Those who topped the list have accomplished the nearly impossible feat of influencing people who are not even dedicated fans.
Even people who have never watched an episode of Oprah in their entire life would pick up a book simply because they saw her book club seal on the cover.
Another shocker that didn’t make the top 10 was Donald Trump who just barely ranked outside of the top ten. This just goes to show you that you don’t necessarily have to be liked to be influential.
So who was the biggest shocker of all that didn’t make the list?
Michael J. Fox.
That’s right. Fox didn’t make the cut this year despite being ranked in at number two just a year ago.
Now the beloved actor tumbles down the chart into the number 13 spot.
