Jay Chou tops Forbes 2012 Chinese Celebrities List

Shanghai (CNS) -- Global financial magazine Forbes released its 2012 Chinese Celebrities List in its Chinese edition on May 3. Jay Chou, a musician from Taiwan, tops the heap with an income of 161 million yuan.

It is the ninth time that Forbes has released such a list to quantify the social power of Chinese celebrities across the straits based on the indicators of income and exposure.

According to Forbes, the selected top 100 Chinese have made their outstanding achievements in the fields of entertainment, sports, culture and media within a period from March 2011 to February 2012. The average individual income of the 100 celebrities is 43 million yuan.

Andy Lau, an entertainer from Hong Kong ranked second after Jay Chou, and mainland actress Fan Bingbing came in third.

The sports industry lagged behind the entertainment sector with only five sports stars selected for the list. Tennis player Li Na, who won the 2011 French Open singles title, ranked first among the five.