HONG KONG - Chinese actress Fan Bingbing has returned to the top of the Forbes China Celebrity 100 list for this year, becoming the only show business personality to have ranked first in consecutive years.

Fan, who was No. 1 last year, pushed Hong Kong's Andy Lau and Taiwan's Jay Chou to second and third places on the list based on income, media exposure and influence, and covering celebrities in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Basketball star Yao Ming was previously the only celebrity to have ranked on top consecutively - he was No. 1 for six consecutive years in the 10 years of the establishment of the list by Forbes China magazine, reported Ming Pao Daily.

Fan's busy year has been packed with filming for her role in X-Men: Days Of Future Days and as Empress Wu Zetian in a mainland TV serial. She also had numerous advertisement deals and film festival appearances, said the newspaper.

But, earning 122 million yuan (S$24.4 million) in the past 12 months, she lagged behind Chou who was the year's biggest earner, with 156.5 million yuan. His pay was credited partly to his Opus concert tour and 2013 movie The Rooftop.

Lau also earned less, with 89 million yuan, but he enjoyed evergreen popularity, selling out tickets to his concert tour last year.

In the overall rankings, top stars Zhang Ziyi and Jackie Chan were pushed to the No. 5 and No. 10 places by younger ones such as China's male lead Huang Xiaoming at No. 4 and Chinese starlet Yang Mi in 6th position.