Bill Clinton beaten by Mickey Mouse, but Oprah is top
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Madonna must be furious to find herself at number seven. Bill Clinton may have to reassess his career after being beaten by Mickey Mouse. And how mortified Elizabeth Taylor must be (and Harrison Ford, Jim Carrey and Martha Stewart) to find herself of less consequence in the mind of Middle America than that dimwit Fred Flintstone (at 42).
Will the ultra-cool, 21st-century A-list superstars Sarah Jessica Parker (at 120) and Ben Affleck (at 119) telephone their agents in hysterics when they find they've been pipped by the cute-but-repellent ET (at 118) and the heroic-but-dumb Star Trek helmsman, William Shatner (117)?
It's a list that will make nervous celebrities weep. The cable TV station VH1 has named the "200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons" in the world (well, the cable TV world, anyway), mixing together actors, musicians, politicians, academics, sporting figures and fictional characters.
Those spurred by the promise of "academics" to scrutinise the VH1 list in search of Umberto Eco or Elaine Showalter will look in vain - the nearest to icons of brainpower are Freud and Einstein.
It's typical of the list's MTV-generation slant that, apart from Princess Diana, the only Britons in the top 100 are pop stars - the Beatles, the Stones, the Bee Gees and Elton John.
Topping the list of cultural icons, living and dead, beating even the awesome cultural fire-power of Elvis, Superman, Marilyn Monroe and Tom Cruise, is Oprah Winfrey, the TV talk show host. It must be a sobering thought for Winfrey - that she has apparently had a greater effect on American life than Muhammad Ali (16) or Neil Armstrong (146). But then the key criterion for inclusion in the list is recognisability, and everyone in America, of every race, gender and denomination, seems to recognise, and empathise with, Winfrey's self-improvement agenda, her social attitudes and struggles with weight and fashion.
What makes a pop culture icon? Fame isn't enough. The VH1 assessors explained the rules: you have to be able to pass "the one-name test", like Madonna, Sting, Britney and Eminem (and, of course, Oprah). Can people dress up as you for Hallowe'en? Can people quote your stuff in 10 seconds or less? Do people copy your dress sense or hairstyle? Were you ever satirised in a TV sketch on Saturday Night Live? Did anyone ever write a song about you? Is there gift-shop merchandising with your name on it?
Given this list of requirements, it's hard to fathom why, say, the late Lucille Ball should occupy the number 4 slot (has anybody watched her show or referred to her as "Lucy" since 1961?) or why John F Kennedy Jnr should be considered more "iconic" than his sainted father. But then, Martin Luther King doesn't turn up on the list at all. And how could he have a place? He was never satirised on Saturday Night Live. And he never "created a signature character in pop culture", did he?
The Top 100
1 Oprah Winfrey
2 Superman
3 Elvis Presley
4 Lucille Ball
5 Tom Cruise
6 Marilyn Monroe
7 Madonna
8 Michael Jordan
9 Princess Diana
10 Michael Jackson
11 Friends cast
12 The Beatles
13 Jerry Seinfeld
14 Steven Spielberg
15 Jennifer Lopez
16 Muhammad Ali
17 Mickey Mouse
18 Bill Clinton
19 The Brady Bunch
20 Britney Spears
21 The Simpsons
22 Tom Hanks
23 Julia Roberts
24 JFK Jnr
25 Rolling Stones
26 James Dean
27 Frank Sinatra
28 John Travolta
29 Mary Tyler Moore
30 Bill Cosby
31 Eminem
32 JFK
33 George Clooney
34 Audrey Hepburn
35 P Diddy
36 Johnny Carson
37 Kurt Cobain
38 Brad Pitt
39 Katie Couric
40 The Osbournes
41 Cher
42 Fred Flintstone
43 Martha Stewart
44 Michael J Fox
45 The Bee Gees
46 Harrison Ford
47 Jackie O
48 Jim Carrey
49 Elizabeth Taylor
50 James Brown
51 Tiger Woods
52 Robert DeNiro
53 Jerry Garcia
54 John Wayne
55 Elton John
56 Carroll O'Connor (as Archie Bunker)
57 Nicole Kidman
58 Magic Johnson
59 Leonardo DiCaprio
60 Kermit & Miss Piggy
61 Mike Myers
62 Andy Warhol
63 Mel Gibson
64 Celine Dion
65 Jackie Robinson
66 Barbra Streisand
67 Howard Stern
68 Bob Dylan
69 Denzel Washington
70 Carol Burnett
71 Run DMC
72 Jay Leno
73 Bono
74 Susan Lucci
75 John Belushi
76 Bruce Springsteen
77 Bugs Bunny
78 Arnold Schwarzenegger
79 Robin Williams
80 Pamela Anderson
81 Jack Nicholson
82 Bill Gates
83 Aerosmith
84 Katharine Hepburn
85 Eddie Murphy
86 Paul Newman
87 Grace Kelly
88 Johnny Cash
89 Barbara Walters
90 Clint Eastwood
91 Marvin Gaye
92 Al Pacino
93 Kiss
94 Penny Marshall (as Laverne DeFazio)
95 Vivien Leigh & Clark Gable (as Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler)
96 Wayne Gretzky
97 Stephen King
98 Shania Twain
99 Henry Winkler (as the Fonz)
100 Will Smith
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments