Spielberg's Dreamworks studio was sold for $1.6bn (�850m) in 2005

The man behind ET and Jurassic Park had an estimated income of �180 million in 2005, or �342 per minute.

DJ Howard Stern is in second place on the list at �163 million, with Star Wars director George Lucas third on �127 million, the magazine calculates.

JK Rowling was the highest-ranked non-American, with Harry Potter earning her �41 million, or �78 per minute.

The author was responsible for the biggest-selling book in the US in 2005.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which was published in July, sold 7.2 million copies there.

And the entire series has resulted in sales of about 300 million around the world.

HIGHEST-EARNING CELEBRITIES 1. Steven Spielberg - �180m 2. Howard Stern - �163m 3. George Lucas - �127m 4. Oprah Winfrey - �122m 5. Jerry Seinfeld - �54m 6. Tiger Woods - �49m 7. Dan Brown - �48m 8. Jerry Bruckheimer - �45m 9. JK Rowling - �41m 10. Dick Wolf - �38m Source: Forbes magazine

Jerry Seinfeld was in fifth place, even though his TV show - which was famously "about nothing" - ended in 1998.

The release of each series on DVD, which began at the end of 2004, will have been a factor in his income for last year.

Golfer Tiger Woods was the top sporting figure, with an estimated income of �49 million.

Last year he won two major tournaments - the Open and the Masters.

Dan Brown, author of controversial religious novel The Da Vinci Code, generated �48 million.

Executive producer of the three CSI television programmes and producer of the Pirates of the Caribbean films, Jerry Bruckheimer, was in eighth place.

And another figure associated with the creation of a hit TV franchise - Dick Wolf, who was behind crime series Law and Order - comes tenth on �38 million.