Sultry thespian Angelina Jolie reigns as this year’s “World’s Most Powerful Celebrity.” In effect, she assumes a throne normally reserved for media queen Oprah Winfrey.

Her rise to power mounted on months of publicity surrounding her newborn twins, constant humanitarian exploits, and marriage to Brad Pitt. Corroborating her fame, two people within her circle landed on the top 10. Pitt’s wife before Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, earned $25 million last year to rank at number 8, while Pitt ranked number 9 with $28 million. Jolie herself earned a decent $27 million, credited to high-grossing flicks like Wanted and Kung Fu Panda.

Whereas Jolie banked on fame, Winfrey talks fortune. Bagging $275 million, the billionaire still has a moneymaking machine in syndicated gabfest The Oprah Winfrey Show. She supplements it with earnings from O Magazine and an ongoing deal with XM Satellite Radio. Still, those riches did not secure Winfrey the crown.

Winfrey’s throne in contention is the one atop Forbes Magazine’s yearly Celebrity 100, which gauges celebrities’ untaxed earnings and media visibility between June 2008 and June 2009. In other words, the Celebrity 100 measures both fame and fortune of the stars. For a relative concept like fame, Forbes makes estimates by counting the celeb’s appearances on the cover of magazines, hits on Google search, press citations on Factiva, and radio/TV citations on LexisNexis.

Striking a balance between fame and fortune is pop singer Madonna, who holds court in third spot. The Queen of Pop pocketed $110 million last year through her Sticky and Sweet concert tour, now the world’s highest-grossing for a solo artist. The concert series crisscrossed 17 countries, selling $280 million in tickets.

Madonna’s younger peer, Beyoncé Knowles, ranks world’s fourth-most powerful, with $87 million in earnings from multimedia sources. Meanwhile, golfing champ Tiger Woods stands at number 5 this year. Musician Bruce Springsteen, director Steven Spielberg, and basketball champ Kobe Bryant trailed at numbers 6, 7 and 10, respectively.

On various levels, the most famous on the list is US President Barack Obama. Ranked number 1 by Forbes in terms of press, TV, and web mentions, Obama is the first ever incumbent head of state on the Celebrity 100.

Collectively, this year’s most powerful celebs earned $4.1 billion, higher than last year’s haul.