Jennifer Lopez :: No. 1 on Forbes' Celebrity 100 list

It used to be enough for a celebrity to act or sing or swing a bat really well. Now for a celeb to be considered a real success he or she needs sell clothes, hawk fragrances, and even invest in technology startups. While she hasn't stormed Silicon Valley just yet, Jennifer Lopez is a state-of-the-art celebrity success story. With $52 million in earnings over the last 12 months and a massive amount of fame, Lopez lands at No. 1 on Forbes' Celebrity 100 list for the first time.

A few years ago it looked like Lopez was done. Her albums, like the all-Spanish Como Ama una Mujer, failed to find the broad audience she once enjoyed. Her movies, like "El Cantante," flopped.

Then in 2010 the singer landed a judge's chair on "American Idol." The job gave her a platform to promote her music and turn her image around. It didn't hurt that she also split from her husband, Marc Anthony. Suddenly a single mother, Lopez lapped up the media attention and scored lucrative endorsement deals with companies like L'Oreal and Gillette. She now has a line of clothing at Kohl's, a top-selling fragrance, and she was able to secure a nice bump — to $20 million — on her "Idol" salary for a second season. With 6.6 million followers on Twitter and 12 million fans on Facebook, she's also proved a master of social media.

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