Most Powerful Women

most powerful women

One trillion dollars in stock market value. That's what just the 27 CEOs on the Fortune Most Powerful Women list control. But there are 24 more women on our 18th annual list—including a special bonus pick whose name you know already. Read on to see who made it—and who didn't.
See this year's other Most Powerful Women lists:
<a href="http://fortune.com/most-powerful-women-europe-middle-east-africa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Europe, Middle East, Africa Edition</a>
<a href="http://fortune.com/most-powerful-women-asia-pacific/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Asia-Pacific Edition</a>

In her second year as head of the nation’s largest auto-maker, Barra—in the top spot this year—has led the $156-billion-in-sales company out from under the shadow of its 2014 ignition-switch recall. Barra spent $2.9 billion on recalls, which dropped 2014 profits 26%. Yet in recent months she has beaten back headwinds from weak international markets, as sales of expensive trucks and SUVs have soared. Barra was one of the few female CEO participants in the viral <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ilooklikeanengineer" target="_blank">#ilooklikeanengineer</a> Twitter campaign, which promoted women in tech.

Mary Barra

Nooyi marks her ninth year atop the $66.6 billion snack-and-drink behemoth in a stronger position than she’s been in for a long time. She beat back a challenge from activist investor Nelson Peltz, landed a big marketing deal with the NBA, and managed to post 4% organic revenue growth in 2014 even as consumers’ tastes have shifted toward kale and quinoa. She removed aspartame from Diet Pepsi this year—and has boosted R&amp;D growth accordingly. Yet people are still eating Lay’s—also good news for Nooyi.

Indra Nooyi

Despite Big Blue’s seemingly unstoppable revenue slide—it hasn’t reported a year-over-year sales increase in 13 quarters, and 2014 revenue fell 6% to $92.8 billion—Rometty remains atop IBM, though no longer the MPW list. Since taking on the CEO role in 2012, Rometty has shelled out $8.5 billion for more than 30 companies (the latest: Merge Healthcare, snapped up in August for $1 billion). She is restructuring the company to focus on technologies such as Watson, a cognitive computing system, and the cloud.

Ginni Rometty

As federal agencies have scaled back spending on information technology, Hewson has shifted the focus of the $45.6-billion-in-sales defense giant toward building military hardware. She’s also considering shedding Lockheed Martin’s government IT and technical services businesses. In July, to give the company its own helicopter-building capability, the 32-year Lockheed vet announced the $9 billion purchase of ­Sikorsky Aircraft, the maker of Black Hawk helicopters. Since taking over as CEO in 2013, Hewson has doubled Lockheed’s market cap.

Marillyn Hewson

Kullman notched a major (and rare) win against an activist in May when her share­holders voted down Nelson Peltz’s proxy fight to split up DuPont and nominate his candidates to its board. Still, you can’t fault his attempt to shake things up; revenue declined slightly last year to $36 billion, while profits sank 25% to $3.6 billion. The chemicals conglomerate took a page from Peltz’s playbook when it spun off its Chemours subsidiary in July. Kullman maintains it was her own idea all along.

Ellen Kullman

In October 2014, in a long-anticipated move, Abby Johnson succeeded her father, Ned, as CEO of the nation’s second-largest fund manager. That puts her in charge of assets totaling $5.3 trillion. She’s already cut costs and made major staffing changes—demonstrating that she’s not afraid to shake things up. Johnson will need to nurture that bold streak to keep the company moving forward: The trend away from funds run by stock pickers—Fidelity’s bread and butter—cost it $16 billion worth of business in 2014.

Abigail Johnson

By Nov. 1, Whitman will have executed one of the highest-profile separations in corporate history, splitting the beleaguered Hewlett-Packard into two divisions: HP Enterprise, which includes server, storage, and networking products and which she will continue to run, and HP Inc., the PC and printer arm. The road to separation has been rocky for Whitman, filled with layoffs, executive shuffles, and a 30% decline in the stock price this year.

Meg Whitman

Sandberg’s vision of Facebook as a mobile advertising giant is finally becoming a reality. ­Facebook’s profits nearly doubled in 2014, to $2.9 billion, and mobile ad revenue now comprises 76% of its total ad sales, up from 62% in the second quarter of 2014. The next chapter in Sandberg’s monetization strategy involves attracting more advertisers to viral photo-sharing app Instagram, which now counts 300 million users. Facebook is also moving to capitalize on the social network’s 4 billion video views a day. In May, Sandberg suffered the tragic loss of her husband, technology executive Dave Goldberg. She took his seat on the board of his company, SurveyMonkey, in July.

Sheryl Sandberg

Activist investors Nelson Peltz and Bill Ackman put pressure on Rosenfeld to break Kraft into two companies in 2011. Now Rosenfeld, who runs the ­resulting $34 billion global snack business, is facing off against both men again. Peltz, who has a board seat, and Ackman, who announced a $5.5 billion (about 7.5%) stake in the company in August, are pressing her to cut costs and increase revenue. She’s already implemented zero-based budgeting and closed old factories, which have boosted margins.

Irene Rosenfeld

As its largest customer—the U.S. government—stabilized its defense budget, this onetime spy, who took over as CEO in 2013, led General Dynamics to profits of $2.5 billion in 2014. That’s up 7% from the previous year. Its Gulfstream jet business, part of its $8.7 billion aerospace division, rebounded from a downturn during the financial crisis as corporate and individual buyers replaced aging fleets. Gulfstream booked almost $1 billion in new orders in 2015’s second quarter, its best performance in seven years. 
Read more about Phebe Novakovic in “<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/11/phebe-novakovic-general-dynamics/" target="_blank">The spy in General Dynamics' corner office</a>.”

Phebe Novakovic

The parent company behind off-price chains like T.J. Maxx and Marshalls is conquering not only its market niche but also the broader world of retail. At the helm since 2007, Meyrowitz has led one of the few successful international expansions of a U.S. retailer. She’s continuing the push with an announcement in July that the company would enter Australia. In fiscal 2015, TJX, with $29.1 billion in revenue, surpassed Macy’s in size. ­Meyrowitz added the chairman title in June.

Carol Meyrowitz

One year ago, Catz and former co-president <a href="http://fortune.com/2015/06/08/redemption-of-mark-hurd-oracle/" target="_blank">Mark Hurd</a> were named joint CEOs of Oracle, replacing founder Larry Ellison, who remains executive chairman and CTO. While the timing (and structure) was unexpected, Catz has been groomed for the top job for years. Her responsibilities now include the manufacturing, finance, and legal divisions. Oracle remains strong in enterprise technology, bringing in $38.2 billion in its last fiscal year, though growth has waned as competitors such as Workday have emerged; profits in the same year fell 9%.

Safra Catz

Good, CEO since 2013, has spent much of her time at America’s largest utility dealing with a massive coal-ash spill and enacting new safety measures. Now she has moved swiftly to bolster Duke’s core utility business, investing $2 billion in a new natural-gas pipeline for North Carolina customers, and she hopes to spend another $2 billion to modernize Indiana’s electrical grid. Good, who joined the Boeing board in August, also plans to invest $3 billion in renewables over the next five years.

Lynn Good

After CVS Health’s 2014 decision to stop selling tobacco products, Foulkes, who handles $68 billion of CVS’s overall $139 billion in revenue, followed up with two major initiatives this year: helping oversee the $1.9 billion purchase of Target’s prescription-filling business—a deal that will give CVS the most pharmacy locations in the U.S.—and launching upgraded beauty and healthy food sections in many of the stores. 
Read more about Helena Foulkes in “<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/11/cvs-health-helena-foulkes/" target="_blank">The change agent inside CVS</a>.”

Helena Foulkes

Sam’s Club contributes only 12% of Walmart’s total revenue, but the warehouse club division’s $58 billion in sales makes it the eighth-largest retailer in the U.S. In fiscal 2015, Brewer managed to increase Sam’s operating income faster than revenue, which has been disappointing; same-store sales were flat. The Lockheed board member is investing in digital and going big on health and wellness, more than doubling the organic offerings at Sam’s Clubs.

Rosalind Brewer

Just over a year into her tenure as Apple’s retail chief, the former CEO of Burberry is making her mark on the $183 billion tech giant. Ahrendts spearheaded the retail launch of the Apple Watch, which has received mixed reviews. Her other focus has been integrating Apple’s online and retail divisions, as well as expanding its China presence. She’s being paid well to do it: The first woman on Apple’s management team took home a package valued at $73.4 million in cash and stock in 2014. 
For more on Ahrendts, read “<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/10/angela-ahrendts-apple/" target="_blank">What the heck is Angela Ahrendts doing at Apple?</a>”

Angela Ahrendts

Now in her sixth year running Xerox, Burns continues to steer the company away from printing hardware and toward software-oriented products, such as a ­disease-tracking platform and management tools for “smart” parking systems. In June she completed the sale of Xerox’s IT outsourcing business, and she has pledged to spend up to $400 million on acquisitions this year. The new businesses aren’t offsetting declines in Xerox’s traditional products—the company’s 2014 revenue, at $19.5 billion, fell 2% from the year before.

Ursula Burns

Mayer continues to talk up Yahoo’s turnaround plan, even as 2014 revenue stayed flat at $4.6 billion and its stock has fallen 35% since January. She maintains her focus on mobile and video advertising, and has been aggressively inking content and media deals, including one to host the first-ever live webcast of a regular-season NFL game. Now the Chinese market collapse tarnishes Mayer’s planned spinoff of Yahoo’s massive stake in e-commerce juggernaut Alibaba. Also ahead for Mayer: twin girls in December.

Marissa Mayer

YouTube’s CEO since early 2014, Wojcicki has worked to turn the massive video site into a viable business. Now that half of YouTube’s views come from mobile devices, she has revamped its mobile app. With some $4 billion in revenue, YouTube delivers only a small fraction of Google’s overall $71.5 billion in sales, but it is growing fast as it recruits content creators and advertisers to compete with an increasingly aggressive Facebook. Under Google’s recent restructuring, Wojcicki now reports to new CEO Sundar Pichai.

Susan Wojcicki

As the CEO of Enterprise Holdings, whose Enterprise, National, and Alamo brands make up almost half of America’s rental-car market, Nicholson is the travel industry’s top woman. A 34-year Enterprise veteran, she became the company’s first nonfamily CEO in 2013. Since then she’s both grown the U.S. business and expanded overseas, boosting revenue 18% to a projected $19.4 billion this year. Up next? A deal with Nissan to bring its car-sharing business to millennials via 90 college campuses.

Pam Nicholson

Engelbert, a 30-year Deloitte veteran, made history in March when she became the first woman to be named CEO of a Big Four firm in the U.S.  Deloitte is the largest professional services firm in the nation, with $14.9 billion in revenue and 70,000 employees; Engelbert plans to hire 25,000 more in 2016. Before getting the CEO nod, the former college basketball star served as head of Deloitte LLP’s audit subsidiary. 
For more on newcomers and returns to the list, read “<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/10/newcomers-dropoffs-mpw/" target="_blank">Who's on? Who's off? Fortune's list of the Most Powerful Women has plenty of changes</a>.”

Cathy Engelbert

Bresch has overseen a lot of drama at generic-drug maker Mylan in her nearly four years as CEO. After acquiring part of Abbott Laboratories earlier this year, Bresch moved the $7.7 billion Mylan to the Netherlands in a controversial “tax inversion” play, then thwarted a plan from Israel-based Teva to buy Mylan for $40 billion. Now Bresch is trying her own hostile takeover of Ireland-based Perrigo. 
Read more about Heather Bresch in “<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/11/mylan-ceo-heather-bresch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Why Wall Street loves to hate Mylan's CEO</a>.”

Heather Bresch

The first in her family to graduate from college, Reed became the $11-billion-in-sales energy services company’s first female CEO in 2011. Now she’s pushing to ­expand, planning to invest more than $19 billion over the next five years in utilities and infra­structure in the U.S., Mexico, and South America. Despite the volatility in the industry, Sempra’s stock has risen 80% during Reed’s tenure.

Debra Reed

Morrison has been one of the most vocal CEOs when it comes to addressing the challenges facing Big Food. Since she took the top job in 2011, she has attempted to remake the iconic company to appeal to consumers shifting their eating habits toward healthy and fresh. Campbell has acquired natural food brands like Bolthouse Farms, Plum Organics, and, in June, Garden Fresh Gourmet.

Denise Morrison

In the second year of Cameron’s second stint as CEO of Reynolds American, the nation’s No. 2 cigarette maker closed the $27.4 billion purchase of rival Lorillard—the largest deal ever led by a female CEO. Cameron has also fulfilled her promise to make Reynolds what she calls the “vaper ­authority”: Its Vuse became the nation’s bestselling e-cigarette—with 33.6% of the market—in the year since its nationwide release.

Susan Cameron

In a surprise hire, Google tapped the former Morgan Stanley CFO as its finance chief in May. Just three months later, Porat gained even more clout when Google created a holding company, Alphabet, to oversee Google and its other businesses—and named her CFO of that company too. She’s off to a good start: After presenting second-quarter 2015 earnings, Google’s market cap rose by $65 billion. 
For more on newcomers and returns to the list, read “<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/10/newcomers-dropoffs-mpw/" target="_blank">Who's on? Who's off? Fortune's list of the Most Powerful Women has plenty of changes</a>.”

Ruth Porat

Tolstedt, who moves up seven spots this year, is the woman behind every interaction that Wells Fargo’s 22 million retail households have with the bank. She leads 102,000 team members and oversees about 6,200 retail locations. Her sector has been hamstrung by the current interest rate environment, but it’s well positioned if the Fed finally nudges rates upward.

Carrie Tolstedt

Its stock price has flagged of late, but J&amp;J’s revenue rose more than 4% last year to $74.3 billion, driven in part by Peterson, who heads four product segments worth $20 billion—including one of the fastest-growing consumer packaged-goods businesses in the U.S. last year. She also oversees IT and the supply chain for all of J&amp;J.

Sandra Peterson

After working in various finance roles at Bankers Trust and elsewhere, Erdoes joined J.P. Morgan’s asset management arm in 1996 as the head of fixed income. In 2009 she was promoted to CEO of asset management. During her time as CEO, revenue has risen 50%, to $12 billion, and the group now boasts $1.8 trillion in assets. Erdoes is actively involved in promoting gender diversity at the bank.

Mary Erdoes

McKenna was chief development officer of Walmart U.S. until December, when she was promoted to head operations of the $288-billion-in-revenue domestic business. In her first quarter, the U.S. division’s store traffic increased for the first time since late 2012. McKenna is behind the opening of four new U.S. e-commerce fulfillment centers, the expansion of online grocery-shopping services, and Walmart’s push to open more than 200 new stores this year. She also helped lead the company’s initiative to increase starting wages to $9 in April. 
For more on newcomers and returns to the list, read “<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/10/newcomers-dropoffs-mpw/" target="_blank">Who's on? Who's off? Fortune's list of the Most Powerful Women has plenty of changes</a>.”

Judith McKenna

London native Lake, trained in physics, has held the CFO post at J.P. Morgan Chase for nearly three years now, overseeing a balance sheet with $2.4 trillion in assets. She is one of two women, including Erdoes, on the bank’s 10-person operating committee. Lake stepped into the spotlight this past summer when CEO Jamie Dimon announced that she would be taking on a bigger role on earnings calls.

Marianne Lake

Abby Johnson’s promotion to Fidelity CEO was a boost for Murphy, handpicked by Johnson in 2009 to lead the company’s personal investing sector. Given her boss’s dislike of the spotlight, Murphy may take an increasingly high-profile role at Fidelity—one reason she’s jumping 10 spots this year. It doesn’t hurt that she has $1.8 trillion in assets under administration.

Kathleen Murphy

Keane is the first CEO of Synchrony Financial, the consumer finance business that was spun off from General Electric in the summer of 2014. She began as a debt collector at Citi, then rose through the ranks at GE to head the business that became Synchrony. The company reported net interest income of $11.3 billion at the end of 2014, and its stock price has risen 40% since the IPO. 
For more on newcomers and returns to the list, read “<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/10/newcomers-dropoffs-mpw/" target="_blank">Who's on? Who's off? Fortune's list of the Most Powerful Women has plenty of changes</a>.”

Margaret Keane

Rentler took the top job at Ross in the middle of its fiscal 2014, which turned out to be a banner year for the off-price retailer. Sales, earnings, and operating margins all jumped, and in June it split its stock two-for-one. But in August, Rentler warned that the second half of 2015 could be challenging. 
For more on Rentler, read "<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/09/best-worst-stocks-mpw/" target="_blank">The best and worst stock performances of Most Powerful Women CEOs</a>."

Barbara Rentler

Van Kralingen oversees a business worth an estimated $19 billion, most of which is made up of IBM’s global business services division, its internal IT consultancy. GBS’s sales fell 3.1% in 2014, so she is focusing on products such as analytics and helms a partnership with Apple.

Bridget Van Kralingen

In January the Canadian-born Tastad became the new head of P&amp;G’s struggling North America division. She now oversees P&amp;G’s largest market, with approximately $30 billion of the company’s $76.3 billion in sales, though the unit has shrunk as P&amp;G sells off nonperforming brands. It’s a tough go at P&amp;G right now: In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, P&amp;G’s overall sales fell 9%. 
For more on newcomers and returns to the list, read “<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/10/newcomers-dropoffs-mpw/" target="_blank">Who's on? Who's off? Fortune's list of the Most Powerful Women has plenty of changes</a>.”

Carolyn Tastad

Home Depot continues to outperform—and so does Campbell, now driving about one-third of revenues at the $83.2 billion retailer, whose same-store sales rose 5.7% in 2015’s second quarter. The Jamaican-born onetime cashier spends most of her time in her region’s 700-odd stores, where she’s known as a prolific tweeter and champion of customer service.

Ann-Marie Campbell

In her current role since June 2014, Gloeckler over­sees strategy for Wal­mart U.S.’s health and wellness business, as well as merchandising for segments such as beauty. She manages a whopping $78 billion of the company’s revenue. Gloeckler is also leading Walmart’s initiative to buy $250 bil­lion of domestic-made products in the next decade. 
For more on newcomers and returns to the list, read “<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/10/newcomers-dropoffs-mpw/" target="_blank">Who's on? Who's off? Fortune's list of the Most Powerful Women has plenty of changes</a>.”

Michelle Gloeckler

The electronics retailer is showing signs of health after a three-year turnaround plan incorporating over $1 billion in cost cuts. One of the only members of the old regime to stay on, Ballard moved up last year to head U.S. retail—81% of Best Buy’s $40.3 billion in revenue. The segment’s sales have recently grown again after years of declines. 
For more on newcomers and returns to the list, read “<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/10/newcomers-dropoffs-mpw/" target="_blank">Who's on? Who's off? Fortune's list of the Most Powerful Women has plenty of changes</a>.”

Shari Ballard

In August, Hanlon was named to run Home Depot’s Northern Division, which covers some 800 stores in the Midwest and Northeast, with estimated revenue of $27 billion. Hanlon started in 1985 as a cashier, intending to help pay for her training as a physical therapist. She never finished—good news for the company and the 110,000 associates she now manages. 
For more on newcomers and returns to the list, read “<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/10/newcomers-dropoffs-mpw/" target="_blank">Who's on? Who's off? Fortune's list of the Most Powerful Women has plenty of changes</a>.”

Crystal Hanlon

Fraser has been racking up promotions at a blistering pace. In 2014 she was named Citi’s head of global mortgages and also picked up the bank’s consumer and commercial banking business. Then, in April, she was named CEO of Latin America. Fraser—who moves up seven places this year—is on a short list of possible successors to Citi CEO Michael Corbat.

Jane Fraser

Kennedy, long behind the scenes, is finally taking center stage. In 2012 the onetime assistant to Steven Spielberg was tapped to run Lucasfilm—right before founder George Lucas sold the studio to the Walt Disney Co. for $4 billion. This December the breathlessly anticipated latest chapter of the Star Wars saga—produced by Kennedy—should bring in $2 billion at the box office alone. 
For more on Kennedy, read "<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/10/kathleen-kennedy-lucasfilm-star-wars/" target="_blank">How the Star Wars producer went from secretary to studio boss</a>."

Kathleen Kennedy

The former CIO now runs Intel’s data-center division, which raked in more than $14 billion in 2014 and—unlike the mobile group—grew 18% last year. Bryant, who has said she never even intended to go to college, studied engineering and has been with the chipmaker since 1985. With president Renée James leaving, she will soon be the highest-ranking woman at Intel. 
For more on newcomers and returns to the list, read “<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/10/newcomers-dropoffs-mpw/" target="_blank">Who's on? Who's off? Fortune's list of the Most Powerful Women has plenty of changes</a>.”

Diane Bryant

After three decades at KPMG in both the audit and advisory businesses, Doughtie became head of the professional services firm in July. KPMG’s 12% year-over-year revenue growth in the U.S.—to nearly $7 billion in fiscal 2014—makes it the fastest growing of the Big Four. In addition to overseeing more than 27,000 people, Doughtie leads KPMG’s efforts to boost the number of C-suite women. 
For more on newcomers and returns to the list, read “<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/10/newcomers-dropoffs-mpw/" target="_blank">Who's on? Who's off? Fortune's list of the Most Powerful Women has plenty of changes</a>.”

Lynne Doughtie

Since joining Corn Products International—Ingredion’s former name—in 2009, Gordon has invested heavily in specialty ingredients, riding (and fueling) the world’s non-GMO and gluten-free trends. This year she bought two ingredient companies, Penford and Kerr Concentrates. Ingredion shareholders have seen the stock triple during Gordon’s tenure.

Ilene Gordon

Who would have expected Crew, the former head of PepsiCo’s North America nutrition unit, to join Reynolds American as head of its cigarette business? She did, last year, then helped integrate Reynolds’s $27.4 billion purchase of Lorillard. Crew will oversee $8.8 billion of Reynolds’s estimated $11 billion in post-merger sales and could succeed CEO Cameron.

Debra Crew

Lubel has led CST—one of the largest independent fuel retailers and convenience-store operators, with $10.8 billion in sales—since its 2013 spinoff from Valero Energy, where she was EVP and general counsel. She’s been on an acquisition tear, doubling the Fortune 500 company’s reach in fuel distribution. Last year CST sold 2.9 billion gallons of fuel to the public in the U.S. and Canada. 
For more on newcomers and returns to the list, read “<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/10/newcomers-dropoffs-mpw/" target="_blank">Who's on? Who's off? Fortune's list of the Most Powerful Women has plenty of changes</a>.”

Kim Lubel

The first woman to lead one of the country’s top 20 banks, Mooney oversees assets of nearly $95 billion. She’s credited with helping KeyCorp survive the financial crisis and for increasing the stock price by more than 50% during her four-year tenure. Now she’s working to move KeyCorp ahead on technology, buying a tech-focused investment bank and partnering with Apple Pay and Hello Wallet.

Beth Mooney

More than three years in, McCoy is still trying to fix the direct seller of beauty products—which has caused her to fall in our ranking. In 2014, Avon reported its third straight annual loss; the stock is down some 65% over the past year. Overseas, the company was hit by a strong U.S. dollar. And while the North American business is on track to be profitable this year, its army of Avon ladies is dwindling. 
For more on McCoy, read "<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/09/best-worst-stocks-mpw/" target="_blank">The best and worst stock performances of Most Powerful Women CEOs</a>."

Sheri S. McCoy

She’s the first chief marketing officer to make the list. But she also oversees GE’s $3 billion lighting business, plus venture investing and licensing. In August, GE CEO Jeff Immelt made Comstock a vice chair—the first woman to hold that title at the company. Her charge: leading business innovation across GE. She’s also on Nike’s board. 
For more on newcomers and returns to the list, read “<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/10/newcomers-dropoffs-mpw/" target="_blank">Who's on? Who's off? Fortune's list of the Most Powerful Women has plenty of changes</a>.”

Beth Comstock

It’s rare these days that a pop star becomes known for more than diva behavior. But Taylor Swift is famous for her industry clout—which is why we’re giving her a bonus spot on the MPW list. Sure, she rocked it in her day job with 1989, the fastest-selling album of the past decade, with four No. 1 hits and one of the largest-grossing North American tours this year. But by <a href="http://fortune.com/2014/11/11/spotify-ceo-really-frustrated-with-taylor-swift/" target="_blank">refusing to put her music on Spotify</a> and then, in June, forcing <a href="http://fortune.com/2015/06/22/apple-taylor-swift/" target="_blank">Apple Music to change the way it compensated musicians</a> during its trial period, she’s shifted the power dynamic back toward the artists. She’s also become an increasingly vocal advocate for female empowerment. Go, Team Taylor! 
For more on newcomers and returns to the list, read “<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/10/newcomers-dropoffs-mpw/" target="_blank">Who's on? Who's off? Fortune's list of the Most Powerful Women has plenty of changes</a>.”

Taylor Swift

One trillion dollars in stock market value. That's what just the 27 CEOs on The Fortune Most Powerful Women list control. But there are 24 more women on our 18th annual list—including a special bonus pick whose name you know already. Read on to see who made it—and who didn't.