You've probably searched for the forbes most powerful person thinking you'd find a fresh 2026 ranking. Honestly, you aren't alone. Every year, millions of people flock to Google expecting to see a definitive "Number One" crown for the year. But here’s the kicker: Forbes hasn’t actually published its official "World's Most Powerful People" list since 2018.
Yeah, you read that right. It's been nearly eight years of radio silence on that specific franchise.
Instead of a single, unified list of world leaders and CEOs, the media giant has pivoted. They now split "power" into different buckets—like the Real-Time Billionaires or the World's 100 Most Powerful Women. If you’re looking for the person who currently holds the most weight in the world according to the Forbes ecosystem, you have to piece it together yourself from their other active rankings.
The Forerunner: Who is Forbes Most Powerful Person Today?
If we use the old Forbes methodology—which looked at money, sphere of influence, and impact on world events—the title of forbes most powerful person effectively falls to Elon Musk.
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As of January 2026, Musk isn't just the richest person on the planet; he’s essentially his own nation-state. With a net worth hovering around $718 billion, his wealth is larger than the GDP of most countries. But power isn't just the bank account. It's the fact that he controls the primary satellite internet infrastructure (Starlink), the leading private space agency (SpaceX), and a massive global megaphone (X).
In the past, the list was dominated by names like Vladimir Putin, who held the #1 spot for four consecutive years, and Xi Jinping, who was the last person officially ranked #1 in 2018. Back then, the logic was simple: heads of state had more "hard power" than any CEO.
Times have changed.
The Metrics of Power in 2026
When Forbes used to rank these people, they used four specific dimensions:
- Money: Financial resources under their control.
- Human Resources: How many people do they actually employ or lead?
- Spheres of Influence: Do they impact multiple industries or just one?
- Active Use of Power: Are they actually changing the world, for better or worse?
By these standards, someone like Jensen Huang of NVIDIA has skyrocketed. He’s currently ranked 8th on the billionaire list with $162 billion, but his "power" is arguably higher because he holds the keys to the AI revolution. If NVIDIA stops shipping chips, the global economy grinds to a halt. That is the definition of a powerful person.
What Happened to the Official List?
The reason Forbes likely stopped the "Most Powerful People" list is that it became a PR nightmare. Ranking dictators next to democratically elected leaders—or putting a tech CEO above the Pope—creates a lot of friction.
In 2015, Vladimir Putin was #1, followed by Angela Merkel and Barack Obama. It was the first time a sitting US President wasn't in the top two. You can imagine the headlines. Today, the magazine prefers more data-driven lists. The "Power Women" list, for instance, is still very much alive. In late 2025, Ursula von der Leyen took the top spot there, followed by Christine Lagarde.
These lists are "safer" because they operate within specific silos. But for those of us wanting to know who is the absolute forbes most powerful person, we’re forced to look at the intersection of the billionaire list and global politics.
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Why the Billionaire List Isn't the Power List
Don't get it twisted: being the richest doesn't always mean being the most powerful.
Warren Buffett is incredibly wealthy—around $145 billion—but he doesn't control global communications or launch rockets. On the flip side, Jerome Powell (Chair of the Federal Reserve) isn't even a billionaire, yet a single sentence from him can wipe trillions off the global markets.
If Forbes were to release a list tomorrow, the top five would likely look something like this:
- Elon Musk (Wealth + Infrastructure)
- Donald Trump (Political Power + Military Command)
- Xi Jinping (Absolute State Control)
- Jensen Huang (Technological Gatekeeping)
- Mohammed bin Salman (Energy & Sovereign Wealth)
The Actionable Reality of Global Power
Understanding the forbes most powerful person isn't just a trivia game. It’s a map of where the world is going. If the most powerful people are no longer politicians but tech founders, your career and investment strategies should reflect that shift.
Here is what you should actually do with this information:
- Follow the "Hard" Infrastructure: Power in 2026 is about who owns the physical tech. Look at companies like NVIDIA, SpaceX, and TSMC. The people running these are the "shadow" leaders.
- Watch the Real-Time Billionaires List: Since the Power List is dead, this is your best proxy. Forbes updates this daily. If a name like Larry Page or Larry Ellison jumps $50 billion in a week, it usually means they've secured a new "sphere of influence" in AI or cloud computing.
- Diversify Beyond Politics: We used to think the President of the United States was the final boss. Now, it's clear that private industry holds equal, if not greater, leverage over daily life.
To stay truly informed, stop looking for a single static list that comes out once a year. Instead, monitor the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires and the World's Most Powerful Women lists simultaneously. The overlap between those two groups and the heads of the G20 nations is where the actual power resides.
Check the Real-Time Billionaire index every Tuesday morning after the markets have had a day to settle; that’s usually when the most accurate reflections of current global influence appear.