Top 50 influential women over 50

Female, 50 and fabulous!

 

In any industry, women’s empowerment has no age limit.

 

Focusing on TV, film, fashion and beauty, music, and sports, we wanted to celebrate and highlight the top 50 influential women over the age of 50. We’ve gathered a list of true queens whose legacies will continue to inspire the up-and-coming generations.

 

To find the most influential women across each industry, we have created a weighted rank, delving into their Followers (Instagram and Twitter), net worth, years active and success factors such as awards.

 

So, what are we waiting for? Starting with television, let’s delve into our first bunch of influential women.

 

 

Television

After almost 50 years in the industry, it is no surprise that Oprah Winfrey is the most influential woman over 50 in television. The star ran her hit talk show – The Oprah Winfrey Show – for over 25 years and 2011 making it one of the longest running talk shows in history. She also launched her own television network in partnership with Discovery, called OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network).

 

Though starting out as a model, second place Halle Berry established herself as one of the ‘highest paid actresses in Hollywood during the 2000s’. She is followed by Jennifer Aniston, who played ‘Rachel Green’ for a decade on the hit TV show ‘Friends’. With a net worth of $300 million and a total of 43 awards won, the actress is certainly influential in the TV world.

 

Chairman of Entertainment at Walt Disney Television, Dana Walden, just misses out on a spot in the top three, followed by actress Octavia Spencer in fifth, who has appeared in numerous TV shows over her 26 active years.

 

With 39 years in industry and 38 awards to show for it, actress Gillian Anderson comes in sixth. She is followed by Kardashian matriarch, Kris Jenner. The momager has been on our screens since 2007 when reality TV series ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ aired and shows no sign of stopping even in her mid-60s.

 

Vice-Chairman of NBCUniversal, Bonnie Hammer, takes eighth place, followed by actress Tina Fey, who has the most awards out of all top 10 ladies. TV producer Shonda Rhimes, best known for being the creator, head writer and executive producer of Grey’s Anatomy, takes 10^th place.

 

 

Film

Our first lady of film is none other than Nicole Kidman. With a net worth of $250 million, this talented actress has played in over 90 films during her 39 years in the industry. Now aged 84, our second-place winner Jane Fonda has spent 63 of those years as an actress – the most of our top ten women.

 

Next is the talented Meryl Streep. She is worth $160 million and has won the most awards of our top 10 with 177. This is 74 more than the next highest award winner, Viola Davis, who at 103 awards and 10.2 million followers is our fourth most influential woman in film.

 

Boasting 52 years in the industry, Thelma & Louise star Susan Sarandon comes in at fifth, followed by film director Kathryn Bigelow, who in 2010, became the first woman to ever win an Academy Award for best director.

 

Now in her early 70s, our seventh place Kathy Bates is still an active actress, as she has been for almost 60 years. She is followed by Indian-American filmmaker Mira Nair, who founded the film production company ‘Mirabai Films’ in 1989.

 

In ninth is American filmmaker, Nancy Meyers. Nancy is one of only 36 female filmmakers to be on Disney+ out of their catalogue of over 500 films going back to the 1930s[1]. Finally, is Liberian-American film director, Cheryl Dunye, known as the first black lesbian to direct a feature film – ‘The Watermelon Woman’ (1996)’. Cheryl has recently won the Cinema Eye Legacy Award for 2022 for this film, 25 years after its debut.

 

 

Fashion & Beauty

With the highest net worth of all 50 women in our lists at $5 billion, Italian fashion designer Miuccia Prada takes the top spot as the most influential woman over 50 in fashion and beauty. The billionaire is the head designer of luxury fashion brand Prada and the founder of its subsidiary Miu.

 

Serving as Editor-in-Chief of Vogue since 1988, Anna Wintour comes up second with a combined following of over 50 million from personal and brand social media accounts combined. She is closely followed by fashion designer Vera Wang, who became an independent bridal wear designer at aged 40 and continues to succeed, making an annual revenue of $625 million.

 

In fourth is English fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, who has spent 51 years in the industry. She is deemed to be largely responsible for ‘bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream’[2]. Creator of ‘DKNY’ Donna Karan ranks next, with an impressive net worth of $500 million.

 

Up in sixth place is Iman Abdulmajid, who started her modelling career back in 1975. In 1994, she launched Iman Cosmetics, which focussed on difficult-to-find makeup shades for women. Once referred to as ‘most influential make-up artist in the world’ by Vogue magazine, British make-up artist Pat McGrath comes in seventh.

 

French make-up artist Laura Mercier takes eighth place with 37 years in the industry, followed by Sara Blakely, founder of shapewear brand Spanx. Worth $1 billion herself, Spanx’s annual revenue is an impressive $300 million. Rounding off in 10^th is American make-up artist Bobbi Brown, founder of popular make-up brand Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, which she launched in 1991.

 

 

Music

With a net worth of $850 million and 19.9million followers, “Queen of Pop” Madonna soars to the top of our 10 influential women in music. Now in her early 60s, Madonna shows no sign of stopping and continues to have a huge influence on popular culture.

 

Worth a whopping $650 million, country star Dolly Parton takes second place. Starting at aged 10, Dolly has lasted 66 years in the industry and counting. She is followed by the incredible Cher, who has also enjoyed a long stint at 59 active years, in which she has won over 300 awards – the most of our top ten.

 

In fourth place, at almost 10 million followers, we have ‘Together Again’ singer Janet Jackson. She has won an impressive 207 awards over her 49 years in the industry. In fifth place is Tina Turner, who is widely referred to as “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll”. She has also received as many as 160 awards over her 52 active years and is worth a gigantic $250 million.

 

At sixth with just shy of 20 million followers is Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk. The artist is a proud receiver of 136 awards through her 47 years in the industry. Following Björk is Carole King, who places seventh largely due to her 64 active years, scooping up four awards in this time.

 

In eighth place is former Fleetwood Mac member Stevie Nicks, who is worth $120 million. In 2019, she became the first woman to be elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, once as a member of Fleetwood Mac and once as a solo artist[3]. With only one less year in the industry than Stevie, 75-year-old singer Patti Smith takes ninth, followed by English singer Kate Bush, who with a net worth of $60 million completes our top ten.

 

 

Sports

Former world No. 1 tennis player Billie Jean King is first on our most influential women in sport over 50. Her most iconic victory was winning the “Battle of the Sexes” back in 1973 against 55-year-old Wimbledon champion Bobby Riggs. This sporting event was hugely influential in gaining greater respect and recognition for female athletes.

 

Tennis legend Martina Navratilova is in second place. She has won a total of 167 awards, making her the highest award winner of our top ten. Next up is Steffi Graf who was ranked singles world No.1 by the Women’s Tennis Association for a record 377 total weeks – longer than any other male or female player has held the ranking[4].

 

In fourth is Chris Evert. She is the record holder for the highest career winning percentage in singles matches in the history of tennis (men or women), winning 90% of her matches.[5] Swedish professional golfer, Annika Sörenstam, takes fifth. Before retiring in 2008 after 16 active years, Annika had won 90 international tournaments as a professional, making her the female golfer with the most wins to her name.[6]

 

Known as “First Lady of Drag Racing”, American race car driver Shirley Muldowney takes sixth. She was the first female to get a license from the National Hot Rod Association to drive a Top Fuel dragster[7]. In seventh is Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci, who was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10.0 at the Olympic Games[8] and is credited with popularizing the sport around the globe.

 

American athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee is our eighth place. She was the first American woman to earn a gold medal in long jump as well as the first American woman to earn a gold medal in heptathlon[9]. In ninth is American wheelchair racer Jean Driscoll, the first person to win seven consecutive Boston Marathons.

 

Long distance swimmer, Diana Nyad takes 10^th. Aged 64, she became the first person to claim to have swum from Cuba to Florida without the help of a shark cage.

 

 

Feeling inspired by these influential women? You can’t buy confidence but slipping into your favourite pair of jeans, sliding on a smart blazer and getting your high heels on is pretty close. And you never know, you could be next on our list!

 

[1] https://ff2media.com/blog/2019/11/05/less-than-one-percent-of-movies-on-disney-are-directed-by-women/

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivienne_Westwood

[3] https://ultimateclassicrock.com/stevie-nicks-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame/

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steffi_Graf

[5] https://chrisevert.net/match-results-and-records/chris-evert-stats-totals/

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annika_S%C3%B6renstam

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Muldowney

[8] https://olympics.com/en/athletes/nadia-comaneci

[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Joyner-Kersee