Taylor Swift Is The World’s Greatest Female Leader, Apparently

Poor Angela Merkel. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. The same goes for Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Malala, any of the three female Supreme Court justices, Sheryl Sandberg, Oprah, Elizabeth Warren, etc. etc. etc.  These leading ladies were all pipped to the top spot of the world's greatest female leader — according to Fortune, anyway — by one Taylor Alison Swift. How about that.  The pop star is the first female entry on the magazine's 2015 "50 Greatest World Leaders" list, coming in at sixth place. It seems the 25-year-old's trademarking frenzy and battle with Spotify have made her "pop's savviest star."  "She has proved shrewder at honing a brand in the social media age than virtually any other person or company," the magazine cooed.  She certainly has, but greatest female world leader? Sure, she's managed to nudge Lorde, Selena Gomez, and Lena Dunham into the same social circle, but that's hardly the same as, say, running a government (like Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, #16). We'll have to sleep on it. In case you were wondering who the other powerful women on Fortune's list were, meet Joanne Liu, the international president of Médecins Sans Frontières; GM CEO Mary Barra; Ferguson non-violence activist Johnetta Elzie; and Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. They don't have any hit records, but they're pretty inspiring, too.