Call it juice, game, power. It's the thing that fuels the movers and the shakers on their road to the top. It's what lies beneath the swagger of a ball player. It's what separates the Trumps from the chumps.
Power puts you on the map, or, in Forbes magazine's case, on the list.
The Power List issue hit newsstands Friday.
On Thursday, Forbes.com released it's annual Power Celebrity 100 List: The World's Highest Paid Entertainers and Athletes and 25 athletes made the cut. Two of them, in fact, are in the top 10.
Nestled comfortably between the man who brought Jesus back to the mainstream, Mel Gibson (No.1), and the woman who has become a media magnate with an unimaginable book club, Oprah Winfrey (No. 3), is golfing genius Tiger Woods.
His Airness, Michael Jordan, jumped six spots from last year, landing at No. 7 right after Harry Potter wizard J.K. Rowling.
But what exactly are the ingredients to the Power Celebrity cocktail? Forbes.com's recipe involves two parts money, one part fame and a dash of buzz -- shaken not stirred.
The actual methodology used by Forbes looks at: Earnings estimates for "June 2003 to June 2004, in millions of dollars; totals include dollars earned solely from entertainment income. Fees paid to managers, agents and attorneys have not been deducted," the mag outlines.
Forbes compiles the information culled from published sources that include Billboard, Pollstar, Adams Media Research, Nielsen SoundScan, and Nielsen BookScan. The actual celebrity rankings are generated by combining their earnings with other media metrics, i.e., Web mentions on Google, TV and radio mentions, and the number of times a celeb's face graces the cover of 17 major mags.
Page 3 is a big fan of lists. So we decided to create out own Power Celebrity List with a slight twist. We tried to imagine who would make the cut 10 years from now, in the year 2014. Sure, it's a little advanced, but we like to think of ourselves as forward-thinkers with pioneer-ish tendencies.
1. Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen
Everyone still loves the "Full House" twins and, nearly two decades later, the glamor duo are still billionaires. Their newly launched magazine, "Twenty-Seven Teen," is a huge success, even though their admirers are now 50-year-old guys who don't care about their latest line of lip gloss. "Playboy" reportedly offered Mary Kate and Ashley $20 million each to pose for the June 2014 issue. "That's not even, like, one percent, of our net worth," Ashley responded through her publicist. Declining the offer left male fans across the world groaning with utter disappointment. "Maxim" fired back by inking a smaller deal with a 38-year-old Andrea Barber, a.k.a. Kimmy Gibbler.
2. LeBron James
With his three-year, $300 million deal he signed with Nike back in 2011, James became the first athlete to make $1 billion by his 28th birthday. When LeBron is off the court, he continues to be surrounded by a plastic protective bubble; a device required by Lloyd's of London to cover his life insurance policy.
3. Ashton Kutcher
Silencing the naysayers, Kutcher is still grabbing headlines in '14 and making millions by suing people over the use of the word "Punk'd." Kutcher and longtime love Demi Moore have a three-year old son, Arthur Ashton. Critics speculate that the junior Ashton was conceived so that the then 49-year-old Moore could pose for the cover of "Vanity Fair" -- 20 years after her first controversial "pregnant" cover for the magazine in 1991.
4. Anna Paquin
This New Zealand native has proved herself as the most versatile actress in all of Hollywood. Last year's starring role in "The Harpsichord," the long-awaited sequel to the 1993 film, "The Piano," was perhaps her most powerful performance yet. Fans were excited when news broke that Paquin will next star alongside Ben Stiller in both "Meet the Grandparents" and "Dodgeball VI."
5. Jaden Gil Agassi
Though he was born six weeks premature, the 13-year-old son of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf is still the most developed tennis player in the world. "What people don't know is, I was actually born with a mini tennis racket in my hand," said Jaden, who shaved his head right before defeating 12-year old Christian Sampras, son of Pete, to win last year's U.S. Open.
6. Lindsay Lohan
Lohan is not the "It" girl anymore, but she's making boatloads of cash from the Lohan Clinics she has set up nationwide. This Betty Ford Clinic for young teenage girls also teaches them the value of admitting to having breast implants.
7. Tiger Woods
Due to boredom and massive career earnings, Woods no longer plays on the PGA Tour. Instead, he gets paid $15 million in appearance fees to show up at international tournaments with a $175,000 purse.
8. Beyonce Knowles
The forever "bootylicious" star still wows audiences with her singing and acting talents, not to mention her sharp business savvy. Although Knowles wears a necklace that says "JAY-Z LOVES ME," she vehemently denies that she is connected to the former rap king turned NBA team owner. (The fact that her son's name is Jay-Z Jr. causes the media to be very suspicious.) Knowles' second child is, of course, named Destiny.
9. Freddy Adu
The MLS folded in 2010, but the former soccer phenom is big in the fake birth certificate business. If his confidential service helps an athlete get drafted in their sport, Adu takes a 50 percent cut of their contract. "Everyone thought I was 14-years-old, even though my voice had changed six years before that," Adu says on a commercial touting the service. "But they couldn't find the real birth certificate because, let's just say I know how to fix things."
In 2014, Bennifer returns and the world lets out a collective sigh.
This year finally saw the return of "Bennifer" with Jennifer Lopez-Anthony reconciling with Ben Affleck after her divorce from Marc Anthony back in 2005. Lopez's refusal to give back her wedding ring to Anthony in divorce proceedings led to Weird Al Yankovich's remake of "Jenny From the Block" called "Jenny Stole My Rock."
11. O.J. Mayo
The kid dubbed the next LeBron James followed the footsteps of "The Chosen One," winning NBA Rookie of the Year in 2008. Mayo endorses Hellman's; sales of the fatty condiment skyrocket by 640 percent.
12. Justin Timberlake
Timberlake is busy with a 25-year anniversary tour with the group that made him famous. First, they were 'N Sync, then *NSync, but now, they've reached unparalleled creativity for the quarter-century comeback tour with N&%Sync. The group wins the grammy for best album of the year, "Nothing but the Kitchen N&%Sync."
13. Prince Fielder
After two decades of losing seasons, the heralded slugger finally led the Milwaukee Brewers out of the cellar to a World Series title. Fielder became the first player to endorse Miller beer as his sports drink of choice. His father, Cecil, capitalized off his son's success, recently launching his own line of funnel cakes and Alfredo pasta sauce. "I never thought I'd get paid to be fat," the older Fielder says.
14. Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon
In October, Madonna's first child turns 18. It's the most anticipated 18th birthday since, well, 2004 when the Olsen twins reached the golden age. The typically shy, young chanteuse shocked even her mother of reinvention Madonna/Esther with the release of her first single from her debut album; the ballad is called "I'm Not, Like, A Virgin."
15. Mitch Manning
Peyton Manning's 7-year-old son was the first second grader drafted into the NFL. "It's funny, 10 years ago we were worried about the maturity of Maurice Clarett, but times have clearly changed," said NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue. "What can we do with Mitch Manning? The kid is 6-4, 210 pounds and he could zip a regulation ball right out of the womb."
Darren Rovell covers sports business for ESPN.com, and can be reached at darren.rovell@espn3.com.
