October 5, 2007

Jen ranks as top celebrity covergirl

Jennifer Aniston When it comes to celebrity magazines, actress Jennifer Aniston is the No. 1 covergirl, according to a Forbes ranking of the top-selling faces.

The former Friends star was followed by her ex-husband, actor Brad Pitt, the only man to appear in the top 10, who came in second. Actress Scarlett Johansson, Pitt's current partner Angelina Jolie, Reese Witherspoon and Katie Holmes rounded out the top six spots.

The website, forbes analyzed the sales of six weekly magazines – People, Star, Us Weekly, In Touch, OK! and Life & Style – over a six-month period ending June 30, 2007.

"We eliminated all non-celebrity and collage covers as well as special issues with exceptionally large rate bases," said Forbes.

"Then we counted how many more-or-less issues the celebrity's cover sold, as compared with the magazine's average newsstand sales."

Also factored in were the number of covers graced by a celebrity and their consumer appeal, which was rated by E-Poll Market Research.

Singers and American Idol contestants Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Hudson tied for seventh place, and were followed by actress and Jenny Craig spokeswoman Valerie Bertinelli and morning talk show host Kelly Ripa.

And while pop star Britney Spears appeared on 18 covers during the six months, the collective sales were some 600,000 below average, said Forbes, and combined with her low appeal score of 3, placed her last among the cover subjects.

The only celebrity to have a lower appeal rating than Spears was Paris Hilton,