First lady Michelle Obama beat out heads of state, chief executives and celebrities to rank as the world's most powerful woman in Forbes magazine's annual listing on Wednesday。

　　Kraft Foods Chief Executive Irene Rosenfeld, who led a hostile $18 billion takeover of Britain's Cadbury, came in second, followed by talk show host and media mogul Oprah Winfrey, who is ending "The Oprah Winfrey Show" next year after 25 years to launch her cable network OWN。

　　German Chancellor Angela Merkel, elected for a second term last year, was the fourth most powerful woman, while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rounded out the top five。

　　Moira Forbes, vice president and publisher of ForbesWoman, said the women on the business magazine's list were "shaping many of the agenda-setting conversations of the 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," she said。

　　This year Forbes changed the way it ranked women, basing the list less on wealth and power and more on creative influence and entrepreneurship。

　　Last year's winner was Merkel, followed by Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Obama ranked No. 40.

　　Forbes said Obama topped the list this year because "she has made the office of first lady her own" while remaining popular。

　　PepsiCo Inc Chief Executive Indra Nooyi, who was last week named the most powerful woman in U.S. business for the fifth year in a row by Fortune, was in sixth place, while singer Lady Gaga came in at No. 7.

　　Gail Kelly, chief executive of Australia's Westpac Banking Corp, was in eighth place, followed by singer Beyonce Knowles. Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres rounded out the top 10.

　　The complete Forbes list of the 100 most powerful women can be seen at www.forbes.com/powerwomen

　　《福布斯》年度最具权势女性榜本周三揭晓，美国第一夫人米歇尔•奥巴马击败众位巾帼元首、总裁和明星，荣膺榜首。

　　卡夫食品公司总裁伊雷妮•罗森菲尔德位列第二。她曾向英国糖果业巨头吉百利发起180亿美元的恶意收购。脱口秀女王、媒体大亨奥普拉•温弗瑞位列第三。《奥普拉脱口秀》在开播25年后，将于明年停播，之后奥普拉将自办OWN电视网。

　　去年成功连任德国首相的安格拉•默克尔排名第四。美国国务卿希拉里•克林顿位居第五。

　　《福布斯女性》副总裁兼发行人莫伊拉•福布斯称，这本商界杂志中的上榜女性“为大家日常言谈带来了很多话题”。

　　她说：“她们创立了公司和品牌，有时通过非传统途径，她们还在商业、政治、体育、媒体、文化思潮等方面打破了性别障碍，因此影响了数百万、甚至数十亿人的生活。”

　　《福布斯》今年的评选标准与以往有所不同，更少关注财富和权势，更多关注创造性的影响力以及创业精神。

　　默克尔是去年榜单的最大赢家，美国联邦存款保险公司希拉•贝尔紧随其后，米歇尔排名第40。

　　《福布斯》杂志称，米歇尔今年登顶的理由是，在广受欢迎的同时“充分发挥了第一夫人的作用”。

　　百事公司总裁英德拉•努伊位居第六。Lady Gaga排名第七。在《财富》杂志上周推出的“美国商界最具权势女性榜”上，英德拉连续第五年高居榜首。

　　排在榜单第八至十位的分别为：澳大利亚西太平洋银行总裁盖尔•凯莉、歌手碧昂斯•诺尔斯、脱口秀节目主持人艾伦•德杰尼勒斯。

　　《福布斯》百位最具权势女性榜单登在www.forbes.com/powerwomen上。