EVERY TOP DOG HAS HIS DAY

While promising the lowdown on "The 101 Most Powerful People in Entertainment," Entertainment Weekly's just-published annual ranking of executives and talent doesn't fail to acknowledge that creating such a list becomes more difficult in uncertain times: "With movie releases being postponed, TV pilots being retooled, and CDs being recalled, it's difficult to get a bead on where anyone stands in the entertainment hierarchy." Nevertheless, EW's editors managed to muddle through somehow, bestowing the coveted #1 position to Universal Studios/Universal Pictures chieftains Ron Meyer and Stacey Snider. Here's how EW ranks the music world's top players:

#6 DOUG MORRIS
#18 THOMAS D. MOTTOLA
#30 JIMMY IOVINE
#33 JUDY McGRATH & JOHN SYKES
#35 DON IENNER
#37 ROGER AMES
#38 NSYNC & BRITNEY SPEARS
#40 MADONNA
#43 CLIVE CALDER
#51 EMINEM
#59 JIM CAPARRO & LYOR COHEN
#65 HILARY ROSEN
#75 JENNIFER LOPEZ
#79 CLIVE DAVIS
#87 BEYONCE KNOWLES

Also garnering shout-outs (as unranked "rising" players) are Capitol's Andy Slater, managers Mosaic Media Group and Island Def Jam's Lost Highway Records.