Coldplay come top of the Brits on Forbes' celebrity power list as Oprah Winfrey ranked highest overall

Chris Martin of Coldplay (Getty Images)

Chart stars Coldplay are the highest ranked Brits on an annual global celebrity power list - as top-selling singer Adele plummets from the top 100 entirely.

The band are ranked at number 14 in the newly published Forbes list of the world's most powerful celebrities, three places above X Factor supremo Simon Cowell.

Oprah Winfrey returns to the top of the list for the first time in three years, with last year's chart-topper Jennifer Lopez plunging down to number 12.

Adele made her debut in the Forbes list - based on money and fame - in 2012 at 24, but she has dropped straight out this year.

Other stars who have disappeared from the top 100 this year - based on the past 12 months - include Britney Spears and Johnny Depp, who will soon be seen in his new film The Lone Ranger.

Explaining Adele's absence from the list. Forbes magazine said: "Adele didn't have a tour in our time frame. For better or worse, tours are now the main source of income for musicians. Adele earned an Oscar for Skyfall, her first James Bond theme song, but with only an estimated 30 million dollars (£19.5 million) in earnings, it wasn't enough to land her on this year's Celebrity 100."

Coldplay did not make the list at all last year and last featured in 2010 when they were ranked at number 35.

Runner-up in this year's list is Lady Gaga, who was in fifth place in 2012, while film producer and director Steven Spielberg takes third position.

British Fifty Shades Of Grey writer EL James is at number 42 after her books proved a phenomenal success shifting 70 million copies around the world.

Compilers of the list looked at estimated earnings of the celebrities in the past year - up to this month - and how often each of the figures are named in print and on TV.

Cowell managed to move up a place from last year's 18.

Top ten of the Forbes Celebrity 100:

1. Oprah Winfrey

2. Lady Gaga

3. Steven Spielberg

4. Beyonce Knowles

5. Madonna

6. Taylor Swift

7. Bon Jovi

8. Roger Federer

9. Justin Bieber

10. Ellen DeGeneres

PA