Angela Merkel Once Again Tops Forbes Most Powerful Women List

Forbes just released their list of the world’s 100 most powerful women and despite seeing growing competition from U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has once again held onto the number one spot for the fifth consecutive year.

There’s no doubt that Merkel has her hands full, being faced with international and domestic problems, but she has still been able to keep Germany on track as being one of the strongest nations in the Eurozone, if not one of the strongest in the world.

Though with U.S. presidential elections coming in 2016, and Clinton being seen as an early frontrunner, Merkel may have a hard time holding onto the position. Clinton has been able to keep her name on the list every year since its 2004 inception, and in the last year moved up four spots from sixth place into second.

Melinda Gates, co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation held onto her third place position, while 2014’s No. 2, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen dropped to fourth place. Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors moved up to take fifth in 2015.