German Chancellor Angela Merkel tops Forbes magazine's list of powerful women for the fourth year running. US First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton failed to even make the top 30.

She has topped the list four times since becoming the first female chancellor of Germany in 2005.

The 2009 list was dominated by businesswomen, mostly from the United States.

In second place came Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC), which insures US banks. Third was Indra Nooyi, chief executive at PepsiCo.

Michelle Obama appeared on the list for the first time, ranking 40th.

Two notches below her, at 42, came Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.

This year Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko is again in the Forbes list of most powerful women. But this time she is on 47^th place. Last year Yulia Tymoshenko got 17^th position in the list.