ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 9, 1996 TAG: 9609090146
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press
NOTE: Below
Oprah Winfrey has talked and talked and talked her way to great wealth.
In fact, she's talked so well during the past two years that she once again ranks atop Forbes magazine's list of the 40 best-paid entertainers. Her combined 1995 and '96 earnings: $171 million.
That puts her $21 million ahead of No.2, director Steven Spielberg, and returns her to the spot she occupied in 1993.
``The reigning queen of talk television, Oprah just keeps on going, despite a temporary dip in ratings two years ago,'' Forbes says in its Sept. 23 issue, released Sunday. The magazine said a fitness book she co-wrote added to her earnings.
Spielberg, ranked No.1 in 1994 and 1995, fell to the No.2 spot Winfrey occupied last year as his $150 million two-year estimated gross income failed to stack up. Next on the list are the Beatles, singer Michael Jackson and the Rolling Stones.
Rounding out the top 10: the Eagles, Arnold Schwarzenegger, magician David Copperfield, actor Jim Carrey, and Michael Crichton, author of ``Jurassic Park.''
Forbes noted that the world's top 40 list, which the magazine has been compiling since 1987, has over time seen increasingly eye-popping numbers in the income figures it calculates.
``A decade ago the top salary for a Hollywood actor was about $5 million. Today it's more like $20 million,'' the magazine says. ``A hot new rock band at the center of a bidding war can fetch $600,000 for delivery of a record - four times what it would have gotten in 1987.''
Regardless of wage inflation, one thing that hasn't changed is interest in the stars' salaries. And lists of all sorts have become major marketing tools as magazines fight to sell subscriptions. They look at biggest companies, richest individuals, best colleges, top cities and the like.
40 biggest wallets
1. Oprah Winfrey, $171 million
2. Steven Spielberg, $150 million
3. Beatles, $130 million
4. Michael Jackson, $90 million
5. Rolling Stones, $77 million
6. Eagles, $75 million
7. Arnold Schwarzenegger, $74 million
8. David Copperfield, $74 million
9. Jim Carrey, $63 million
10. Michael Crichton, $59 million
11. Jerry Seinfeld, $59 million
12. Stephen King, $56 million
13. Garth Brooks, $51 million
14. Andrew Lloyd Webber, $50 million
15. Tom Hanks, $50 million
16. Siegfried & Roy, $48 million
17. Tom Cruise, $46 million
18. Harrison Ford, $44 million
19. Clint Eastwood, $44 million
20. R.E.M., $44 million
21. Sylvester Stallone, $44 million
22. John Grisham, $43 million
23. Robin Williams, $42 million
24. Robert Zemeckis, $42 million
25. Roseanne, $40 million
26. Michael Douglas, $40 million
27. Bruce Willis, $36 million
28. Luciano Pavarotti, $36 million
29. Kiss, $35 million
30. Charles Schulz, $33 million
31. Bill Cosby, $33 million
32. John Travolta, $33 million
33. Mariah Carey, $32 million
34. Tom Clancy, $31 million
35. Kevin Costner, $31 million
36. Denzel Washington, $30 million
37. David Letterman, $28 million
38. Metallica, $28 million
39. Mel Gibson, $28 million
40. Sandra Bullock, $25 million
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Medium: 87 linesby CNB