Forbes magazine on Wednesday released its annual list of 100 most powerful women in the world.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel topped the list for the seventh time in eight years, outranking President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, who came in second. Third and fourth were Melinda Gates and Michelle Obama, and Hillary Clinton in fifth.

The magazine selected 100 most influential women from seven categories or power bases: billionaires, business, lifestyle (including entertainment and fashion), media, nonprofits/NGOs, politics and technology.

Peng Liyuan, China's first lady, became one of the newest members of the most powerful women list, ranking 54th, along with eight other Chinese women, including Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, Cher Wang, chairwoman of HTC, Jennifer Li, CFO of Baidu, and Yang Lan, co-owner of Sun Media Group.

Below is the Top 10 list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women in 2013:

photo by forbes.com