2019 Forbes Celebrity 100: Virat Kohli beats them all
Leaving behind Bollywood biggies, Team India captain Virat Kohli occupied the top position on the 2019 Forbes Celebrity 100 list, that was released today. It is for the first time in eight years since the launch of the rankings, that a sportsperson has unseated an actor from the coveted spot. Meanwhile, Akshay Kumar grabbed the second position, while Salman Khan slipped to No. 3.
Akshay Kumar, with estimated earnings of Rs. 293.25crore in 2019, climbed one spot to grab second position. Salman Khan (Rs. 229.25crore), who held the top place since the last three years, slipped to 3rd position. He had just one release (Bharat) this year. Veteran Amitabh Bachchan (Rs. 239.25crore), with another successful season of KBC, took flight from last year's 7th rank to 4th rank.
Other Bollywood actors (male) in the Top 10 are Shah Rukh Khan (Rs. 124.38crore) and Gully Boy star Ranveer Singh (Rs. 118.2crore). Meanwhile, producer/actor Ajay Devgn took up 12th rank, South superstar Rajinikanth grabbed 14th position, while Aamir Khan slipped nine positions to take up 15th rank. Aamir had no release in 2019, and his last film Thugs of Hindostan was a big flop.
In a first, two women (Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone) are part of Top 10 of the list. With estimated earnings of Rs. 59.21crore, Alia grabbed 8th position, whereas Deepika (Rs. 48crore) slipped from 4th to 10th position. She had no releases this year. Other Bollywood ladies in the list include Priyanka Chopra (14th rank), Anushka Sharma (21st rank), and Katrina Kaif (23rd rank).
Apart from the reigning Kohli (Rs. 252.72crore), other sports celebrities in the Top 10 include former Team India skipper MS Dhoni (Rs. 135.93crore), and retired cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar (Rs. 76.96crore). Other notable sports personalities placed in the list include Team India opener Rohit Sharma (11th rank), rising star Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, badminton stars PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, and Mary Kom.
From the music industry, the list included Oscar award-winning singer/composer AR Rahman, Pritam, Amit Trivedi, the duos of Vishal-Shekhar and Ajay-Atul, and the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio. Meanwhile, TV celebrities who made it to the list include comic Kapil Sharma, Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya, Bharti Singh, and Karan Kundra. Notably, famed celebrity chefs like Ranveer Brar and Vikas Khanna are also part of the list.
To compile the Celebrity 100 list, Forbes takes into account two factors: 1) the estimated earnings of celebrities through professions and endorsements, and 2) estimates of their fame. To calculate fame, the media visibility of the celebrities across print and social media is considered. The rank is based on aggregate of these two parameters. The period under consideration was October 1, 2018-September 30, 2019.
