Oprah, Rowling top list of richest women entertainers

U.S. talk show host Oprah Winfrey and British author J.K. Rowling top Forbes magazine's first list of the 20 richest women in entertainment.

Winfreyis first, followed by Rowling, lifestyle diva Martha Stewart, musician and mogulMadonna, and Canadian songbird Cline Dion, according to Forbes, which scoured the publishing, film, television and music industries to estimate net worth.

Salaries, record sales, tours, merchandising and career royalties were taken into account to determine the Top 20.

Winfrey, also on Forbes's most powerful women list, tops the tally of richest in entertainment with earnings of $1.5 billion US.

Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series,is second with about $1 billion US.

She is followed by Stewart, whose net worth is uncertain because it rests on the value of her company's shares, but it is estimated at about $638 million US.

Even thelastwoman on this list, actress Rene Zellweger, still earned $45 million US over her career, according to Forbes.

Madonnais said to have made $325 million US, and Dionislisted at $250 million US.

Forbes says itwas difficult to estimate the net worth of celebrities with long careers. They includeMadonna, who began selling millions of albums in the early 1980s and has gone on to buy a portfolio of properties and a record label, Maverick.The magazinewarns its estimate mayhave been"on the conservative side."