Madonna, Lady Gaga, And Rihanna Shut Out Of Forbes ‘Most Powerful Women’ List

Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Rihanna are still synonymous with being powerful women, even if all three had some setbacks lately. Unfortunately, neither of these powerful pop titans were listed in Forbes’ list of the 100 most powerful women.

While Madonna may not be as powerful as she used to be, the Queen of Pop can still influence conversations on social issues. When Madonna was pulled off stage at the 2015 Brit Awards, it led to several conversations about ageism, misogyny, and sexism at such big media sources such as the Guardian, NPR, and even the Daily Mail. The singer’s Rebel Heart album didn’t exactly light the charts on fire, but it did make her the artist with the most No. 1 hits on any chart in music history. Madonna’s upcoming Rebel Heart Tour will also see her make hundreds of millions of dollars, even if tickets aren’t moving as fast as they did with previous tours.

2015 saw the end of the Madonna and Lady Gaga feud, which was a great thing since both of these megastars share a lot in common. In fact, Lady Gaga was also absent from the Forbes list after being on it for several years. Mother Monster may have produced an art flop instead of ARTPOP, but Gaga’s album Cheek to Cheek with Tony Bennett did garner decent sales and a Grammy. Lady Gaga’s performance at the 2015 Academy Awards was also very well received.

Rihanna joins Madonna and Lady Gaga in selling less records, but is still an influence in the entertainment business. She still makes news every single day for practically existing. Her ads for Christian Dior received excellent reviews as even the Telegraph described them as edgy. Rihanna’s latest two singles “B*tch Better Have My Money” and “American Oxygen” haven’t been big hits, but they did lead to discussions about racism, misogyny, and other social issues throughout the blogosphere.

Madonna fan Taylor Swift made the list, but only at No. 64. It was quite shocking to see Beyoncé make the list at No. 18, despite the fact that Beyoncé has sold far less records than Taylor Swift and played to some stadiums with empty seats, even though her husband Jay-Z was on tour with her. There is no doubt, however, that both Swift and Beyoncé deserved to make the list.

Later in 2015, Lady Gaga plans to star in American Horror Story while Madonna plans to scandalize and entertain the world with her Rebel Heart Tour. Rihanna will, hopefully, release her long-delayed R8 album. If Gaga, Madonna, and Rihanna want to guarantee a spot on Forbes list next year, they should do a duet or at least some project together.

[Photo Credit: All About Madonna]