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Madonna may have lost out to Jesus in a recent comparison, but she appears to have the number of Britney Spears – about 50 million of them.

According to the 2007 edition of the Guinness Book of Records Madonna is the highest paid female singer on the planet, taking that title away from Spears, who had held it since 2001 after earning around $38 million the year before.

In other recordable news …

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt: A Picture
(AFP via Getty Images)
  • Janet Jackson also replaced Spears in Web rankings for the world’s most searched-for female and most-searched-for news item.
  • Leading men in the category of most-searched-for is an actor you may have heard of: Brad Pitt.
  • Elsewhere, Nicole Kidman set the record for the highest salary per minute for an actor (a reported $3.71 million for a four-minute commercial for Chanel No. 5)
  • Oprah Winfrey is named the highest-paid person on TV ($225 million, according to the last Forbes power ranking).

Also, American Idol star Simon Cowell is the highest paid TV talent-show judge (about $34 million), while Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has the highest annual earnings for a children’s author, with an estimated $64 million.