#ShahRukh Khan unseats Salman Khan to top 2015 Forbes India Celebrity 100 List

On Dec 11, 2015

Having lost top rank to friend and arch rival last year, SRK takes back the crown in 2015 with estimated earnings of Rs 257.5 crore

Salman Khan at number 2, Amitabh Bachchan at number 3.

Total wealth of top 100 celebrities at Rs 2819 crore
Cinema, cricket dominate top 10

New Delhi, December 11: Shah Rukh Khan has once again proven that he is the country’s top celebrity. Khan is back at No.1 in the 2015 Forbes India Celebrity 100 list. At 50, SRK continues to rule India’s most definitive celebrity index.

Having slipped to No.3 last year, he has wrested the coveted No 1 position on the List back from Salman Khan who has dropped to the No. 2 slot this year.

Amitabh Bachchan slips to No.3 (from No.2 last year) while cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni maintains his rank at No 4.

Shah Rukh Khan’s earnings are estimated at Rs 257.5 crore, the highest ever any celebrity has made in the four-year history of the Forbes India Celebrity 100 list. In fact, his earnings make up as much as 9 percent of the total wealth of the top 100 celebrities this year — Rs 2,819 crore.

While the Forbes India Rich List focuses on net worth, the Celebrity 100 list is arrived at by measuring money (earnings estimates) and fame. The list includes movie actors, television stars, sportspersons, authors, ﬁlm directors, music directors, singers and stand-up comedians. Their gross pre-tax earnings are combined with their fame scores to arrive at the Forbes India Celebrity 100 List.

On the Fame rankings, Shah Rukh Khan still lags behind at No 4. Here, Amitabh Bachchan reigns at No 1. With more than 18 million followers on Twitter, the highest-ever for any celebrity on our list, the 73-year-old icon is setting higher benchmarks every day.

The list this year has thrown up a few surprises. Notable among them is actor Aamir Khan, who makes it to the top five for the first time. He is at Number 5 on the list this year. The superhit movie PK and revenues from brand endorsements helped him rake in an estimated Rs 104.25 crore, his highest in the last four years. It’s an increase of 145 percent to the amount he earned in 2012.

On the other hand, Alia Bhatt and Madhuri Dixit have moved up the list despite any movie release in the time period under consideration (October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015). Their rise on the list is entirely due to earnings from brand endorsements and their fame quotient.

The list this year has also witnessed a few who jumped ranks and moved up considerably higher in just one year. Among the top 3 Celebrity 100 List rank gainers are Dhanush (who moved up 41 ranks) and is at Number 37, Rohit Sharma and Allu Arjun (both moved up 38 ranks) and are at Number 12 and Number 42 respectively.

This year’s List has 14 debutants, among them cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin, who comes in straight at No 31. Meanwhile, filmmaker SS Rajamouli and actor Prabhas make it to the list due to the monster hit Baahubali.

There were more dropouts this year though; 19 celebs lost their ranks on the Celebrity 100 list for 2015. Notable names like Sanjay Leela Bhansali, AR Murugadoss and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy moved out of the list in 2015.

The 2015 Forbes India Celebrity 100 special issue this year is a five-cover collector’s edition featuring Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Anushka Sharma and Irrfan Khan. The special edition also includes features on Ravichandran Ashwin, Saina Nehwal, south-based star Mahesh Babu, film director SS Rajamouli, and singer Sonu Nigam, among many others.

The Top Ten on 2015 Forbes India Celebrity 100 List:

Name of the Celeb	Total Revenue (Rs. Crore)
Shah Rukh Khan	257.50
Salman Khan	202.75
Amitabh Bachchan	112.00
Mahendra Singh Dhoni	119.33
Aamir Khan	104.25
Akshay Kumar	127.83
Virat Kohli	104.78
Sachin Tendulkar	40.00
Deepika Padukone	59.00
Hrithik Roshan	74.50

The principal data partners for the list are LexisNexis, TAM-Eikona, Exceed Entertainment, Galatta magazine, IOS Sports and Entertainment and GroupM ESP; they helped provide data for celeb endorsements as well on print and TV exposure. The issue was also supported by indiantelevision.com, radioandmusic.com, tellychakkar.com, and Nielsen BookScan for the data gathering process on select category of celebs.

The 2015 Celebrity 100 special issue, priced at Rs 150, will be available across the country on newsstands from December 11, 2015. For more details and coverage on the business of entertainment visit www.forbesindia.com

[Note: The rankings in the list are based on estimates of earnings (front-of-camera appearances in many cases) and media visibility of each celebrity across print, television and social media from October 1, 2014, to September 30, 2015. The numbers are, therefore, not accurate, but merely indicative]