Celebrity 100 Drop-Offs: Spears, Clooney....

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Celebrity 100 Drop-Offs: Spears, Clooney, Mayweather And More

Some big names fall from the list, because they can't (or don't want to) keep up with the next generation of rising stars.

LOS ANGELES -- Fame is fickle. One year you have a major tour that grosses $130 million, the next year you can’t even crack the Celebrity 100. That’s what happened to Britney Spears. The pop princess ranked sixth on our Celebrity 100 power list last year, thanks to a massive tour and high-profile endorsements. But with no tour this year, Spears fall right off the list, despite her new album Femme Fatale, which is her sixth to debut in the top slot on the Billboard charts. It’s hard to compete when you’re up against major touring acts like Lady Gaga (No. 1), U2 (No. 4) and Elton John (No. 5). AC/DC is another act who just didn’t make the cut this year.

The Celebrity 100 is unique because we rank the celebrities not only based on how much they earned, but by their fame. In this case we measure fame through a combination of Web hits, press and TV mentions, cover stories and social media followers. And as opposed to lists like The Forbes 400 or our World's Billionaires list, we’re looking at earnings, not net worth. That means every year the list changes a lot. Sure, there are list stalwarts like Oprah (No. 2), Johnny Depp (No. 13) and U2 (No. 4). But this year we had 32 people drop off the list. Seventeen are appearing for the first time.

George Clooney is one of the higher-profile drop offs. The actor ranked 58th last year with $19 million. But for the past 12 months we estimate Clooney earned only $8 million. What happened? Clooney used to have a movie-making philosophy of “one for them, one for me” where he would alternate big-budget studio films like Ocean’s Thirteen with smaller, more personal films like Good Night and Good Luck. It didn’t matter much if the smaller films didn’t do well, because the bigger films made up for them.

But lately Clooney has been focusing solely on smaller films. Sometimes they hit big, as did Up in the Air, which earned $163 million (on an estimated budget of $25 million) and a Best Actor Oscar nomination for Clooney. Other films, like The American, don’t do as well. That movie earned $68 million on a budget of $20 million. That’s not a bad return, but it’s not enough for Clooney to walk away with a lot of money on the back end. The actor, who can command upwards of $12 million per film, took a massive pay cut for the upcoming political thriller The Ides of March, which will hit theaters this October. That kind of move helps difficult films get made, but it doesn’t keep Clooney on our list, at least not for now.

With Harry Potter coming to an end, Daniel Radcliffe falls off of our list too. The young actor ranked 82nd last year with $25 million in earnings. His most recent endeavors, including a Broadway show and a small horror film, won’t pay him blockbuster money.

Meryl Streep’s another big name that left the list because of career choices. She’s been on a great run over the past few years with movies like Mamma Mia, Julie & Julia and It’s Complicated bringing in a total $960 million at the global box office. But after so many big films, the actress is going smaller. Her next film is the tiny-budgeted The Iron Lady, a biopic about Margaret Thatcher.

The Jonas Brothers are another story. The Disney ( DIS - news - people )-bred band grossed $43 million on 45 shows. Not bad, but just half what they made a year ago, and they’ve clearly lost the teen heartthrob crown to Justin Bieber, who ranks No. 3 on our Celebrity 100 list. All for one, one for all? Each of the brothers is exploring solo work, making a return to the list unlikely in the near term.

Boxer Floyd Mayweather has fallen on hard times, and off our list. Last year Mayweather ranked 31st with $65 million in earnings. Much of that was from a 36-minute bout against “Sugar” Shane Mosley. But the undefeated Mayweather has been kept out of the ring due to legal problems. He’s been hit with domestic violence-related charges, as well as those of grand larceny, coercion and robbery, stemming from an incident with his girlfriend. Mayweather will have to get out of the courtroom and back into the ring if he’s going to make it back on our list.

Hm, can't imagine George losing much sleep over this.

I agree, Katiedot! No sweat off his back!

Not that money making films aren't a plus,but IMO getting to make films he wants is his priority. Still hoping his career follows in the footsteps of Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford for their directing, and Paul Newman for his humanitarian work.

I so agree. IMO hHe's made all the money he wants - and can get millions from his advertising deals - so he's focusing on making good films and doing good.

Yep he can do what he wants and if he needs a big cash boost he will do something more mainstream. The commercials are giving him a good income so he has no worries. I think he is enjoying his position he can pick and choose to do what he wants. He seems committed to darfur and that region he has another trip in July. I doubt he cares about this list.